Her return
by BelongToMe
Summary: Three years after leaving her friends behind, Gabriella is coming back to East High for senior year. Everything has changed except her feelings for Troy, pity about the new girlfriend. What was their last argument about and what will happen now? R&R pleas
1. Chapter 1

-- TaylorBaby

**-- TaylorBaby!! has logged in --**

**--Shar4Zeke has logged in --**

**xXGigiXx says:** Hey girlies!

**Shar4Zeke says:** Hey G, what's happening in the big apple?

**xXGigiXx says:** Oh you know, endless parties with fabulous people :P

**Shar4Zeke says:** I hate you sometimes…

**TaylorBaby!! says:** Shut it Shar

**xXGigiXx says:** You guys will never guess the amazing news I have for you both…

**Shar4Zeke says:** You're flying me cough I mean us…to visit you and you're paying for a shopping spree?

**TaylorBaby!! says:** Girl please say she's right…

**xXGigiXx says:** Sorry to disappoint, all you get is me

**Shar4Zeke says:** Huh?

**TaylorBaby!! says:** Are you coming for a visit?

**xXGigiXx says: **Nope, better. I'm coming home for good!!

**TaylorBaby!! says:** Wait…you're not saying what I think you're saying….

**xXGigiXx says:** Mom's company is transferring her again and cause it's with a promotion she got to pick where she wanted to go.

**xXGigiXx says:** And cause of you guys and the fact that all her and dad's family and old friends are in New Mexico and Gram and Poppa never met Hunter and Cass….. WE'RE COMING HOME!! Shar you may now scream

**Shar4Zeke says: **AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

**TaylorBaby!! says:** Heard that from my house…..

**TaylorBaby!! says:** So when are you getting here?

**xXGigiXx says:** I'll be there for the start of next semester

**Shar4Zeke says:** You better be in our homeroom G

**TaylorBaby!! says:** What about Troysie? He might not be so happy to know you're coming back after the way things ended when you left…

**Shar4Zeke says:** He might do the whole 'angsty teenage jock' thing again and we all know THAT wasn't pretty…

**xXGigiXx says:** I need to talk to him about all that so can you guys just not tell anyone until I get there? I wanna surprise everyone

**Shar4Zeke says:** Oh he'll be surprised all right…

**TaylorBaby!! says:** It's been three years…maybe he'll have let it go by now…

**Shar4Zeke says:** Are you kidding? This is TROY BOLTON! He didn't talk to Chad for three weeks after he popped his balloon

**TaylorBaby!! says:** He was six! I think we'd all like to think he's grown up since then…

**Shar4Zeke says:** I guess Kayla is a living example of that…

**xXGigiXx says:** Who's Kayla?

**TaylorBaby!! says:** Shar, do you remember when we talked about thinking before saying stuff?

**xXGigiXx says: **What are you guys trying to hide from me?

**Shar4Zeke says:** Kayla is Troy's…new girlfriend

**TaylorBaby!! says:** They've been together a couple of months now

**Shar4Zeke says:** Sorry Gigi

**xXGigiXx says: **Guys it's been a three years…he's allowed to move on

**Shar4Zeke says:** Yeah but have you?

**xXGigiXx says:** Yeah of course I have

**TaylorBaby!! says:** Whatever you say Gabs

**xXGigiXx says:** I have to go do some homework, I don't wanna be behind when I make my return to East High!

**Shar4Zeke says:** Like you'd ever be behind smarty-pants

**xXGigiXx says:** Shut up. I'll see you guys in a month okay?? I'm counting the days!!

**Shar4Zeke says:** Can't wait to see ya!

**TaylorBaby!! says:** Bye girl

**xXGigiXx says: **Love you girls xxx

**-- xXGigiXx has logged off --**

**Shar4Zeke says:** She so isn't over him…

**TaylorBaby!! says:** Nice going mentioning Kayla…

**Shar4Zeke says:** Don't be a bitch Taylor, that's my job

**TaylorBaby!! says: **I think everyone knows that :P

**Shar4Zeke says:** Ouch…Anyways, I have to go do my homework, if I get behind I'm not allowed to go for the musical

**TaylorBaby!! says:** A fate worse than death…

**Shar4Zeke says:** Sarcasm doesn't become you dearest. Anyway, toodles! x

**TaylorBaby!! says: **Toodles…

**-- Shar4Zeke has logged off --**

Taylor McKessie wheeled her chair back from her computer and banged her black head against the desk. They were trying to keep Gabriella from finding out about her ex-boyfriends new girlfriend. _Why could Sharpay Evans never keep her mouth shut? That's how the whole mess started in the first place._ With a sigh she picked up her cell phone to call her boyfriend Chad. She knew Gabriella didn't want anyone else to know, but she had to talk to him about Troy.

* * *

A few miles away, Sharpay Evans closed her pink laptop and lifted it to hit her blond head with it. _I told her! That was probably the stupidest thing I've ever done…Well done Shar. _She sighed and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Ryan!" she called down the hallway. "Can you come in here? I really need to talk to you. I've done something stupid…again." With that she flopped down onto her bed and buried her head under her pink pillow.

* * *

Over a thousand miles away from both of them, Gabriella Montez was hitting her head on her desk as well. _I was so STUPID to think he would've waited for me! He never even let me explain the whole mess. I bet this Kayla's all blonde and skinny and perfect. I hate her already. _Unable to restrain a sigh, she picked her phone up. A couple of her friends from her school in New York knew the story of her and Troy Bolton; maybe she'd call one of them. She had to tell them she was moving anyway. _I swear sometimes the universe is out to get me._

**Just an idea I had while sitting at the computer. Read and review and tell me what you think! Much love! xx**


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning the Evans were running late for school, so Taylor didn't even see Sharpay until third period. Unfortunately since it was Darbus they had to be extra careful that the notes they were passing didn't get caught.

_Shar, I told Chad..._

WHAT?

_Sorry. But since him and Troy are best friends I thought maybe he could you know, offer a perspective on how he would take it._

Yeah, but this is Chad, he can't keep a secret at all...

_Says the girl who spilled it in the first place!_

Will you ever let that go?

_No. Besides, I already talked to Ry and HE knows! So don't start that attitude with me, missy!_

Sheesh Tay, chill out. I was stating a fact. Chad Danforth cannot keep secrets. That's why we never have surprise parties anymore, remember?

_Okay fine you have a point. But I warned him that if he told anyone...consequences would be HUGE_

I don't even wanna know what's going through your twisted little mind over there...

_:D But seriously, Troy is so not gonna handle this. He will freak out, and get angry at everyone who didn't tell him. Which right now, is EVERYBODY._

Yeah I know. Gabs is lucky she doesn't know the "new him". I mean he's my friend and I love him (most of the time), but he's been a real ass for the past few years. A.G. and B.K. was not a pretty time...

_Okay remember what we said about acronyms no one knows about?_

After Gabs and Before Kayla. As annoying as she is, he straightened him out a lot.

_Traitor._

I am not I'm being honest. Remember the fist fights and the skipping school? Don't even get me STARTED on the drinking. And I don't want him to go back there. What if he does when G gets back?

_He's older now. And wiser._

No he's not. He's Troy. He'll always be an idiot. But he's OUR idiot.

_That is so kind of you :P He'll be okay. I admit it, Kayla's been good for him. If anything happens, she'll help him out._

I hope you're right Tay.

_I'm always right my dear. I'm the genius of the group, remember?_

"Oh dear" Taylor mumbled. Darbus had seen the slip of paper crossing between desks and was charging up the aisle. On the other side, Sharpay was oblivious and continued to write. Taylor coughed, trying to get her attention. Ms Darbus was in between them by the time the blonde had finished writing and as she leaned over to pass the note, she bumped into their teacher's side.

"Miss Evans." Sharpay gulped loud enough for the rest of the class to hear. "I expected better from you. And you Miss McKessie. Seeing as you obviously do not hold enough respect for the English language, maybe you can try to find some in detention after school."

"But Ms Dar-"

"No buts, McKessie. I don't care about the extra-curricular activities I'm sure you signed up for, you now have detention."

Both girls groaned and put their heads on their desks.

"Now seeing as you girls obviously found something so interesting to discuss it couldn't wait until you were out of my classroom, maybe the rest of the class should hear it too?"

The two girls were rescued by the bell ringing. Sharpay quickly snatched the note out of her teacher's hands as she was overwhelmed by the rush of students who were trying to leave her classroom.

* * *

After another hour where they were in separate classes, it was lunch time. As they walked into the cafeteria and got their lunches, they looked to their usual table that where Sharpay's twin brother Ryan and various members of the Wildcats basketball team were already sitting, and saw that Troy's girlfriend Kayla was once again clinging to his shoulders. Together they took in her outfit, black skinny jeans with a tight white t shirt that showed three inches of skin in between, with a pair of hot pink heels. The outfit not only showed off her year-round tan, but also her very good figure.

"I would hate her if she wasn't so nice," Taylor commented.

"I hate her anyway," Sharpay replied, earning a laugh from her friend. They were still giggling as they sat down.

"What's the joke?" Kayla asked the two of them and they froze.

"Oh you know, just something that happened in class," Sharpay quickly recovered.

"Oh you guys just had Darbus right?" she laughed. "Aren't you the lucky ones? Homeroom with her is more than enough for me." She reached over and grabbed onto her boyfriends arm, while pushing her red-brown shoulder length hair out of her face. "Do either of you guys have a spare hair tie?" she asked the girls. As Taylor handed one over she spoke to Troy, her blues eyes matching his sparkling ones as he smiled down at her. "Babe, what are you doing during free period?"

"Basketball practice, wanna come watch? You can cheer for your wonderful boyfriend who...was just made captain of the varsity team!"

"That's fantastic!" all the girls squealed.

"What about Chad?" Taylor asked.

"He's the vice. So we get to lead the Wildcats to victory together! Hey man, where've you been?" Troy directed his question to his afro-haired best friend who had just sat down.

"I. Hate. Wilsons," he answered between bites of his sandwich, referring to his history teacher.

"He kept you in AGAIN?" Taylor narrowed her eyes. "What did you do this time?" she asked suspiciously.

"Baby, I can't help it if I fall asleep in class sometimes. It wouldn't happen if school was more fun."

"Or if you weren't texting your girlfriend until eleven at night. How come you never have the same...problem, as Afro man here?" Kayla teased Chad and Taylor.

"I live closer, I get up later," she smiled triumphantly.

"Hey Shar, how's the prep for the next musical going? Has Darbus decided what it's gonna be yet?" Kayla asked another question.

"Yeah, finally. We're doing Wicked. Kels is starting learning the songs today," Sharpay replied with a slight smile.

"Oh great so I won't have anyone to be my lab partner in biology. Speaking of which, I completely forgot I had tutoring this period, so sorry baby, I can't watch your practice. I have to go, see you guys!" by the time she had finished Kayla was already halfway across the cafeteria on her way to the door.

"Guys we have to go too," Troy told the other boys sitting around the table except Ryan Evans.

"Buh mah samwif. I'b noh finished," Chad said, spraying the bite of sandwich he had in his mouth over the table.

"Nice man, but you can eat it on your way to the gym. Let's go. See you girls later on."

"Bye guys," Sharpay called while laughing at Chad's attempts to kiss his girlfriend goodbye.

"NOT while you have a mouthful of food! Just go away," Taylor laughed as he admitted defeat and raced off after his buddies.

"You know the most annoying thing about Kayla is her niceness," Taylor commented.

"It's all those questions. She's just so..._interested_! It's weird!" Sharpay wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"It's gonna be so weird when Gabs gets back," Ryan spoke up from the end of the table. "She's gonna wanna hate her, but that's the freaky thing, it's physically impossible to hate Kayla McKenzie."

* * *

**Thanks for the reviews etc but more would be appreciated ;) Hope you liked this new chapter, if you did, push the little blue button in the corner and tell me! Much love! xx**


	3. Chapter 3

That night, thousands of miles away from everyone in New Mexico, Gabriella signed onto IM chat on the computer in her bedroom

That night, thousands of miles away from everyone in New Mexico, Gabriella signed onto IM chat on the computer in her bedroom in New York. She had more news she needed to share with her best friends in Albuquerque.

**--- xXGigiXx has logged in ---**

**--- Shar4Zeke has logged in ---**

**xXGigiXx says: **Hey girl, guess what?

**Shar4Zeke says: **What? Spill the secrets!

**xXGigiXx says: **Wait for a minute, text Tay and tell her to come online

**Shar4Zeke says: **I won't need to, she always comes on this time.

**--- TaylorBaby!! has logged in ---**

**Shar4Zeke says: **Told ya :)

**TaylorBaby!! says: **What?

**Shar4Zeke says: **Just talking about your total predictability :P

**TaylorBaby!! says: **Shut up Shar

**xXGigiXx says: **Guys, focus! I have more news!

**TaylorBaby!! says: **You're bringing us lots of new clothes from New York?

**xXGigiXx says: **Unfortunately not… BUT I am coming home earlier!!

**Shar4Zeke says: **Damnit, so I can't move away in the next four weeks like I'd planned?

**TaylorBaby!! says: **You ruin all the best plans, G

**xXGigiXx says: **I know but could you at least TRY to be excited that I'll be home two weeks early? That means in time for Christmas!

**Shar4Zeke says: **Okay in that case, we need to PARTAY!!

**TaylorBaby!! says: **Ooooh yes! Wait, Miss McKessie just had a stroke of genius!!

**Shar4Zeke says: **Did it hurt?

**TaylorBaby!! says: **You can be so cruel sometimes Miss Evans… My brilliant idea = have a MASKED ball for a Christmas party! That way, Troy, Kayla and Gab can all be at the same place at the same time and it won't cause the huge dramas that school will!

**xXGigiXx says: **You make it sound like we'll kill each other...

**Shar4Zeke says: **You never know, I've never seen Kayla in a rage before... But an excellent idea! Who knew a good idea for a party would come from Taylor?!

**TaylorBaby!! says: **You know, usually I'd disagree with you, but that is actually the truth…

**xXGigiXx says: **I love you guys so much haha. Hey listen, I have to go, a bunch of us are going to a concert tonight. Fall Out Boy has hit the Big Apple!!!

**Shar4Zeke says: **You have no idea how jealous I am right now…

**TaylorBaby!! says: **You lucky, lucky duck

**xXGigiXx says: **I know! Haha I'll see you guys in TWO WEEKS!

**Shar4Zeke says: **And I will plan the welcome home party that will be kept secret from the ex

**TaylorBaby!! says: **And I'll stop her from trying to hire fire eaters and elephants like she did last time…

**Shar4Zeke says: **Hey, I saw you riding Kashin! You LOVED those elephants. Maybe a fairytale theme this time…. I need to talk to Samuel for this one…

**TaylorBaby!! says: **Ah yes, the ever present party planner…

**xXGigiXx says: **Guys! Leaving now!

**Shar4Zeke says: **Bye Gee!

**TaylorBaby!! says: **See ya in 2 weeks!

**--- xXGigiXx has logged out ---**

**Shar4Zeke says: **I seriously cannot wait for this party! Can you imagine, a fairytale masquerade… Big white ball dresses, fairy lights, tinsel and lots of Christmas trees…..

**--- TaylorBaby!! has logged out ---**

**Shar4Zeke says: **Hey!!

Sharpay closed her laptop and grabbed a pen and paper. This had to go off well; she didn't want any huge scenes between Troy and Gabriella any sooner than necessary. She remembered the last time they had been in the same room.

* * *

"_I'm leaving tomorrow! You can't leave things between us like this!" Gabriella yelled at her then boyfriend, dark brown eyes sparkling with tears._

"_You should've thought of that before you decided to make out with Jacob Edwards at my best friends Christmas party!" Troy was screaming so loudly Gabriella had backed up against the wall. "I didn't even find out from you, I had to hear it from the cheerleaders gossiping after practice!"_

"_I just tried to explain it to you! I was drunk and I thought he was you. I'm sorry, I'm so incredibly, unbelievably sorry and I regret everything that happened that night." By now tears were streaming down Gabriella's face._

"_You didn't notice that you were kissing my enemy from West High?" Troy replied sarcastically._

"_Please, I said I was sorry. Please believe me when I say this, it wasn't my fault. I know it looks like I'm passing the blame but I'm not I swear! I heard his friends talking about it yesterday; they spiked my drink and set me up to hurt you!"_

"_Gabriella," she stopped when he used her full name. His voice was full of hurt and anger and he was obviously trying to contain his tears. "I'm sorry but, I just can't trust you anymore. I can't believe that. Please don't contact me when you leave." With that, Troy Bolton had walked out of Gabriella Montez's life without looking back. Sharpay and Taylor had rushed to their best friend's side as she fell to the floor, sobbing._

"_He's all I have. He can't leave me. He can't. Troy! Please come back! Please…" she broke down again, holding onto Taylor's neck. "You believe me, don't you? You don't think I did it on purpose? I would never do anything like that on purpose, I would never hurt Troy. He's all I have."_

"_Shh, just let it out Gab. Just cry and let it out," Taylor had comforted her friend while Sharpay had run after Troy._

"_BOLTON!"_

_He turned to face the blonde girl. She was so angry she was shaking, and was using the full power of the ice glare from her brown eyes on him. When he saw her, he looked terrified, he had never seen her this mad._

"_Shar-" he started._

"_DON'T speak to me!" she cut him off. "One day, you will realize that you have made the biggest mistake of your life and your girlfriend is telling you the truth. And when you do, and you want to come back into her life, I hope with all of my heart that she won't let you. You have just split her heart in two, and the worst part is, you know and you don't care. Her dad died three months ago and the first social event she goes to, her trust is violated by three boys, who, I can't even find words to describe, and her own boyfriend doesn't have the decency to stand by her. You are a coward Troy Bolton. Go to hell!"_

_After her speech she turned on her heel and went back to her friend who was still clinging to Taylor._

* * *

Sharpay sighed. She had never told anyone what she had said to Troy that day, and was pretty sure he hadn't either. While their relationship had gotten better over the past three years, she still hadn't forgiven him for the way he had treated her best friend, and she had torn the cheerleaders to shreds the next day too. People could say what they liked about Sharpay Evans, but she would always stick by her friends whenever they needed her.

But life had gotten better for Gabriella over the past three years. Even after she and her mom had moved away, Sharpay, Taylor and she had remained best friends. And the two girls left in New Mexico had heard all about her mom starting to date a man from New York, before marrying him and having to baby daughters, Gabriella's half-sisters, Hunter and Cassidy. Sharpay had only seen pictures of the two one year-olds and couldn't wait to meet them in person. Sharpay sighed again. Her life had improved, but she knew her best friend still missed the boy who had broken her heart all those years ago.

**Hope you enjoyed it, I didn't feel like it was that great and I DEFINITELY wasn't planning on anything like that so just review and tell me what you think and if there's anything you'd like to see in the next chapter :)  
Much love! xx**


	4. Chapter 4

While Gabriella was busy packing, the next two weeks passed in a blur for the East High Wildcats. Sharpay was a whirlwind of invitations and party plans, but wouldn't let anyone, even Taylor, know the full details of her party. She just kept saying she wanted it to be a surprise for everyone, but she did offer her team of dressmakers to Taylor, Kelsi and Kayla, and unknowingly to her, Gabriella.

"And you, mon chere, what is your favourite princess?" Jean-Francois, Sharpay's main designer, had asked Kayla when the girls had met with the dressmakers for the first time.

"Oh, um...Sleeping Beauty? I always liked the idea of sleeping for a hundred years," she laughed. "Plus, it's pink!"

"Ah, it shall be done! And you, mademoiselle?" he asked Kelsi

She screwed up her face in thought.

"She should be Thumbelina," said Sharpay as she entered the room.

"Oh ha ha yes very funny, make a short joke," Kelsi replied sarcastically.

"Who is this Thumbelina? I do not know..." Jean-Francois asked.

"She's a very, very short fairy who becomes a princess," Sharpay explained to the bewildered Frenchman.

"Ah I see this! You can be the fairy princess! You will look be even more beautiful than you are at this moment!" he cried while kissing a blushing Kelsi on the forehead.

"And you, la belle. What are you going to be?" the man turned to Taylor who was secretly hoping she wouldn't be on the receiving end of an emotional outburst.

"I was actually thinking of Belle, you know, from Beauty and the Beast? With Chad's hair that would be perfect," she laughed nervously.

Sharpay gasped. "You will look beautiful! I think I'm gonna be Tinkerbell, think I can get Zeke to go for the green tights?"

"Only if you do unspeakable things for him," Taylor joked. She laughed at the faces of the other girls. "What, I meant cleaning his kitchen!"

At this, Sharpay visibly shuddered, causing all the girls to laugh until Jean-Francois shooed them out of his office telling them he wanted to start on the designs for 'his five princess'.

"What did he mean? There are only four of us using him..." Kayla asked the other girls in confusion.

"Um...he's French! You know how confused they can get!" Taylor laughed nervously.

"Usually they can count.... That's so weird. Oh well, what do you girls want to do now?"

* * *

That had been two weeks ago, now school had finished and it was less than a week until the party. They entered the office of their friend's designer and were shown to different changing rooms. Twenty minutes later, Kelsi was the first to exit hers.

Jean-Francois had made her a long, pale blue dress that seemed to sparkle in the light. It reached her mid calf in a handkerchief hem. The dress was halter neck and had a darker blue and silver band around her waist. There were white and silver wings attached to the back that shimmered along with the dress.

After Kelsi had admired herself in the mirror for a few minutes, Taylor opened the door of her changing room. She came out slowly, dressed in a golden ball gown with off the shoulder sleeves. The bodice of the dress was formed as a corset and made her waist look tiny, while making her cleavage look bigger than usual. The full skirt of the dress was many layers of tulle covered by golden chiffon and reached the ground. She had golden gloves that went to her elbows and were the exact same shade as the dress.

"Jean-Francois said I should put gold body-glitter on" she said weakly.

Kelsi ran to her. "You look AMAZING!" she cried, hugging her.

Taylor snapped out of her daze. "Oh my gosh so do you! Those wings are INCREDIBLE!"

The two girls admired each other for a few minutes until Kayla opened the door to her changing room. She stepped out wearing a dark and light pink, old fashioned ball gown with slight puffs over the shoulders, long sleeves and a square neckline. The full skirt was covered with a heavy, light pink material embroidered in darker pink. She had already put on her mask, which covered the area around her eyes and was the same dark pink covered with paler pink lace.

"You look like a princess from like the 1500s!" Kelsi squealed.

"I know right! Wow those wings look incredible Miss Thumbelina! And Taylor! Wow! Chad will not know where to look!" Kayla gushed at the other two girls.

"You girls all ready?" Sharpay called from her changing room.

"Always has to make an entrance…" Taylor mumbled.

"Damn right Tay," Sharpay called out. She opened the door and stepped out. The short green dress she was wearing went to mid thigh at its longest point and was cut into a zigzag. It was a bright forest green with a slight sprinkling of gold over the fabric. She had wings that were fairly similar to Kelsi's, only gold and had a green and gold mask covering her face.

The other girls were stunned for a second before they erupted into squeals at each others clothes. After a few moments, Jean-Francois entered the room and was hugged by all the girls. He commented on how beautiful they all looked and told them his job was like providing a canvas for the Mona Lisa "the art form is there, I simply provide the basis for its beauty to be shown." Before bending down and whispering something in Sharpay's ear.

After the girls had changed back into their regular clothes and their dresses had been put into dry-cleaner bags for them to take home, they all went for a coffee. It was the 21st of December, there were three days until the party, and Gabriella was due home in two, but she had no idea about the surprise Sharpay had in store for her on her return to Albuquerque.

* * *

The days passed quickly for Gabriella, who was a blur of packing and re-packing her belongings. The entire house had to be cleaned and her hands were raw from scrubbing all the floors. Finally the day came to head home. She would be flying back, her family following a day later in their car. She had already arranged to be picked up at the airport by Sharpay and Taylor as she'd be staying with Taylor for a couple days as Sharpay would be setting up for her party.

As she stepped off the plane she paused, remembering the circumstances in which she'd left. She thought about the night that caused the drama, the fight between her and Troy, and the seemingly endless tears in the weeks that had followed. She had healed since then, and if she could forgive Troy for not trusting her, he should be able to deal with her now living back in Albuquerque.

"GABIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!" she heard Sharpay before she saw her, her friend's high-pitched voice breaking into her thoughts. Her eyes were drawn to the huge sign that Sharpay and Taylor had made saying WELCOME HOME GABI! It was hot pink and sparkly, and purely Sharpay Evans.

Running over to hug her two best friends she squealed to them. "Shar! Tay! I missed you guys so much!"

The three girls stood in the arrivals terminal at the airport for a few minutes, all talking excitedly and loudly, before they went to claim Gabriella's bags and take her back to the McKessie's house.

As she entered the front door, Michaela McKessie, Taylor's younger sister and Gabriella's almost sister, nearly knocked her over as she ran to hug her and welcome her home. As she walked into the living room, Gabriella was overwhelmed by what she saw. There were more signs (this time in colours other than pink), balloons and streamers everywhere. A table full of food where a big glass punch bowl was pilled with pink liquid. But the best part was that Chad, Ryan, Kelsi, Zeke, Jason and Martha were all there, along with the Danforth, McKessie and Evans families. Seeing it all brought tears to Gabriella's eyes.

"You really didn't need to do this guys, seriously" she started, before getting interrupted by Chad.

"You know, you're right. After you disappeared on us and leaving us with Troy when he was like that, you should be throwing a party for us! OW!" he cried out in pain as he was elbowed in the side by Taylor.

Gabriella giggled then went over to say hi to all her friends and her second families.

A couple hours later, Chad felt his phone buzzing. Pulling it out of his pocket he read:

_***New Message***_

**From:** Hoops

Hey man, where is everyone? You wanna come hang out and shoot some hoops? Kayla's starting to get on my nerves.

A couple minutes later, across town, Troy received a new text message.

_***New Message***_

**From:** Fro

Sori dude cant. Hangin wit tay. Doin hw nd stuff. U gota stik it owt. Gtg cya

After sending the message, Chad closed his phone and switched it off. He wasn't allowed to talk to Troy much because everyone was worried he might tell him about Gabs being back home. It wasn't his fault no one trusted him with secrets anymore. He'd just forgotten that Gabi's birthday party in seventh grade was meant to be a surprise. It wasn't his fault.

He looked over at his girlfriend who was now dancing to some Jonas Brothers song with Gabi and Sharpay. He had to admit, he was a little scared of how Troy would react when he found out that all of his friends had known about his ex-girlfriend returning. He thought back to the day before Gabriella left town.

_He was shooting hoops in his backyard when Troy entered through the house. He looked really pissed so he decided that he'd wait until he started to talk, so he didn't get his head bitten off. But to Chad's surprise, Troy picked up another basketball and they stood in silence for a short time, practising three pointers._

"_She's leaving tomorrow dude."_

_Troy had turned to glare his best friend. "You think I don't know that?"_

"_We're all having a party for her tonight, if you wanna come, I mean..."_

_Chad had been shocked by Troy's laugh. It was cold and derisive, and completely unlike him. "You think I want to wish that whore well? She should just leave and we'd all be better off."_

_This was when Chad started to lose his temper. "She tried to explain it to you, so did Sharpay but obviously that didn't work. Here's my turn to try. What the hell is your problem?"_

_The smirk that was dancing across Troy's face started to fade. "What do you mean, 'what's my problem'? You know exactly what it is, she cheated on me! Why is everyone getting so mad at ME about?!"_

_Chad lost his temper completely then. "What I mean is, what the hell do you have such a problem with; your relationship obviously wasn't built on much if this is all it takes to destroy it. You guys used to be best friends and now you don't trust her when she tells you the TRUTH about how she was taken advantage of, so you, her boy friend, her BEST FRIEND won't stick by her when she needs you? You can't treat her like this, like she has to devote everything to you, but you won't stand by her when she truly needs you. You're as bad as the boys who drugged her, only you're taking advantage of her emotions, not her body. How would you be feeling if they'd managed to RAPE her? What if Zeke and I hadn't been there because you'd gone?"_

_He paused for breath and to let what he'd said sink in. As Troy started to open his mouth, Chad spoke again and cut him off._

"_Don't get angry at me, I'm just trying to make you see the truth of the situation. Don't come to Gabi's party tonight. In fact, don't bother coming back around here until you decide to grow up and stop being to selfish. She needed you Troy, and you got mad at her for being taken advantage of. How could you do that?" Chad spoke the last part softly, before turning around and walking back into his house._

That had been the last time Troy had let anyone talk about Gabi. Occasionally he'd slip something out about regret, but then would cover it with some sarcastic comment. Chad had had to watch his best friend sink into depression over the guilt and regret he'd felt about the situation. He'd seen him start skipping school, then drinking, and then start sleeping around. He'd never even told Taylor, but once at a party he'd seen Troy taking drugs. As far as he knew, it had only happened once.

Everything had changed for Troy in the past six months. After over two years of a downward spiral, Kayla McKenzie had walked into East High. She'd refused to be a one night stand and wouldn't date Troy until he'd cleaned up his act. It had taken about three months before he'd proved that he'd changed and she had agreed to go out with him. Chad had to admit, while he had always thought Gabi was a better match with Troy, Kayla had changed his best friend's life around and he owed her a lot. Without her, Troy Bolton might not be alive today.

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**Sorry this took forever, but I've finished school and have lots of exams that pretty much determine whether or not I can go to university next year! Hope you liked this chapter, I kinda thought I should show Chad's perspective on everything and a bit more of background of what happened after. So if you liked it, or you just want to say something to me, click on that little (now green) button just below here and say it! :)**

**Love and God bless!! Xx**

**PS. Sorry that the dates are all messed up, I forgot what time I wrote this in and had to do minor re-writes to adjust.**

**PPS. I'm kinda average at describing clothes, so you'll have to use your imagination**


	5. Chapter 5

**There's something buzzing around the top of the computer desk and every time I go to see what it is and move everything away it stops and it's driving me MENTAL!!! Oh my gosh it FINALLY flew away! It was a fly that was like right next some cellophane thing so it was rattling around heaps. I just had to share that. Enjoy the chapter :D**

* * *

The next morning the sun was just peeking through the blinds as Gabriella woke up in Taylor's guest room. Groaning, she covered her head with a pillow and tried to block out the noise that had woken her. Then she realised it was her ring tone.

_Hey there Delilah, what's it like in New York City?_

_You're a thousand miles away but tonight you look so pretty, yes you do_

_Times Square can't shine as bright as you._

Sliding an arm out from under the white duvet she reached around for her phone. When she finally grabbed it and pulled it to her ear, she was not happy. Everyone who knew her well enough to call her knew she was not a morning person. Without looking at the screen she pushed talk and looked at the alarm clock beside the bed. 7:00am.

"What do you want!!?" Gabriella groaned down the phone.

"No need to snap Gigi I just thought I should warn you that I'm about to leave for Tay's to pick you guys up" Sharpay's chirpy voice made her friend cringe.

"Do you have to be so happy? And why are you picking us up? But most importantly, why the hell did you wake me up?" she lowered her voice to what was almost a snarl.

"Look usually I would be all threatened and stuff but today's a big day for me and I really can't be bothered with your crap so get your lazy ass outta bed and get in the shower. Over and out crabby pants." With that she hung up.

Gabriella rolled over to the edge of the double bed and continued rolling until she almost fell out, catching herself just in time. That was Sharpay's 'don't-mess-with-me' attitude and nothing good could come from disobeying her orders.

Fifteen minutes later Gabriella met Taylor at the breakfast table. She'd pulled her curly, almost black hair into a long ponytail that ran to halfway down her back. Wearing jeans and a t shirt that said 'don't talk to me right now' to reflect her current mood, she had a surly expression on her tanned face.

Her friend Taylor just laughed at her. She had on jeans too but was wearing a yellow baby doll top with them. Her black hair was left loose and wavy around her face. She'd experienced Gabriella's aversion to mornings before so went to the counter and grabbed a steaming cup of coffee, waving it under her friend's nose. She knew it was the only way to make Gabriella fully alert before 11am.

"Bless you. Really. I hate Sharpay, you're my only best friend now" Gabriella grabbed the cup and inhaled the scent before taking a sip.

"Why is she coming over anyway? I know she's all into mornings but does she have to make others use them too?"

Taylor laughed at that. "She has a surprise for you. We both do really. But I can't tell you anything else until she arrives so what do you want on your toast?"

For the next five minutes the girls ate their breakfasts in mostly silence, which was only broken by Gabriella asking a question about the mystery or trying to joke about what they were going to do to her.

Finally, the girls heard the front door open. "Shar is that you?"

A deep voice called back to the girls. "No, not Shar, it's Chad. Troy's here too he wanted to know why we're avoiding him. So you know, he's here."

Taylor looked at Gabriella with total shock in her eyes. "You have to hide!" she whisper yelled at her.

"What? Why?" Gabriella whispered back.

"I'll explain later, but please" she pulled her friend to her feet and opened the backdoor to the patio outside, pushing her through it she continued "I swear I will explain but please for once in your life, just what you're told."

Shutting the door, Taylor turned back to the room just as her boyfriend and his friend Troy Bolton. Opening her phone she fired off a text to Sharpay:

_Mayday! Mayday! Bolton is in my kitchen, Gabi is outside! HELP!_

Closing her phone she smiled at the boys and went over to hug Chad.

"Hey guys, this is a surprise. What brought you here at 7:30?" she asked nervously. "Why didn't you text or call to announce your arrival? Cause that would have been GREAT" she said the last word through gritted teeth while glaring at Chad. He held up his hands in response at gestured at Troy while mouthing 'he didn't give me time! Sorry!'

Troy looked at Taylor. His bright blue eyes made his suspicious look seem like a cold glare. "Why are you avoiding me?"

Taylor gave a nervous laugh. "Who's avoiding? I'm not, and Chad's not and-"

He cut her off, his voice softer this time. "Tay, seriously, whatever it is, you can tell me. I don't want to lose anymore friends. What is going on?"

"You wanna know the truth?"

He nodded.

Just as Taylor opened her mouth ready to say who knows what, Sharpay opened the front door and called through the house. "Taylor! Are you ready to get started?" Coming into the kitchen she feigned surprise at seeing Troy leaning against the counter top. "My, my, Troy Bolton at someone else's house _this_ early in the morning? What did you do Taylor, start serving breakfasts for these two?"

"Actually," Troy replied. "Taylor was just about to tell me what she was hiding from me." He turned to her, waiting for her to finish whatever she was about to start before.

"I'll tell you." Sharpay held her hands up in defeat. "We're having a girly pampering day for us today before my party and she was helping me organise it. And last night her and Chad were just having a big D and M. A Deep and Meaningful," she explained to the confused boys. "He didn't want to tell you 'cause he wanted to keep up the manly Neanderthal image but gosh Troy, you just dragged it out of me."

"But everyone else was totally busy too..."

"Troy, we do have lives away from you, you know. Kels was writing music for the musical when school goes back, Ryan was helping me with final details for tonight, Martha had an extra dance class and Zeke was trying to teach Jason how to bake."

Taylor and Chad stood open-mouthed, shocked at how she managed to incorporate all of their friends into her lie.

"Now you should probably go unless you want to try a facial! It'll make you look perfect as Prince Charming for Kayla tonight! I have kiwi and strawberry, or citrus!" She held up two bottles.

"Uh, you know what, we have to go, basketball and stuff. See you girls later." Troy edged out of the kitchen and back through the front door. Chad gave Sharpay a thumbs up and followed his friend.

"You know, even after all those plays I never thought your acting talent would pay off" Taylor was still in shock.

"You better believe it McKessie. MONTEZ!" Sharpay yelled.

Gabriella entered the room slowly and carefully.

"Finally. Now hurry up and drink your coffee, we have to go to the hairdressers, the nail salon, the dressmakers, the make up artist..."

"Wait, what? What's going on? Why am I going places?"

Sharpay held out a rolled up sheet of paper. It was pale pink and had a gold ribbon tied around it. Easing it off and unrolling it, she read aloud.

"You are cordially invited to the Fairytale Masquerade ball, to be held on Saturday 24th of December. Come dressed as your favourite fairytale character but don't forget your mask. Starting at 8pm, dress, formal, fancy and fabulous." Looking up she watched her friends for a second. "You have got to be joking. There's no way."

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Sharpay had a steely glint in her brown eyes and Gabriella had to admit that no, she did not. "Good. Now get in the car and I'll explain on the way."

Gabriella soon found herself being pushed out the door by her friends and shoved in the back of Sharpay's pink convertible.

"I don't even have shoes on!"

"You'll live." Sharpay started the car. "Okay so you know I'm having a party tonight and that it's a masquerade ball. I know you love Cinderella so you'll be her."

"Shar that's great but I don't have a dress or anything. Or a date," Gabi tried to defend herself from Sharpay.

"Okay first, since when did Gabriella Selena Isabel Montez need a guy to go to a party? That's not normal for you. Besides, your Prince Charming will already be there. You'll just have to steal him from Sleeping Beauty."

"I am NOT going to steal another girls date!"

"Oh please, Charming was always a whore if you ask me, he was always going after different princess'. But anyway, I know you don't have a dress, that's why I had one made for you."

"You WHAT!!?" Gabriella shrieked at her friend.

"Gabs, I love you, but if you scream like that again, I will gag you. I'm not kidding" Taylor commented from the front passenger seat. "And Shar, they were always different princes!"

"I'll gag you if you keep interrupting. All the girls got a dress; you're not that special Montez. And I say that with all the love in the world, really. But you can't back out now, I don't wanna get stuck with a dress that's not the right size or costume for me. You wouldn't do that to poor old Sharpay would you?" she batted her eyelashes in the rear vision mirror.

"Course not," Gabriella mumbled from the backseat. She was overwhelmed by all of this. Sharpay had Daddy's money but she was also incredibly generous to the people she loved.

"Good. So we have to get you all ready for a party!" Sharpay pulled over and got out of the car. The other two girls followed her. "We're here! Now to get you looking like a princess!" The three girls walked into a sand coloured building with the word _Enhance_ written above the door. It was Sharpay's beauty salon and second home.

* * *

Hours later as the girls sat down to have a sushi lunch in bathrobes that had been supplied by the salon. All three were glowing after being waxed, plucked, exfoliated, massaged and filed to within an inch of their lives. All three had a mask on her hair that was supposed to make it softer and more easily styled. There were gooey face masks on each of their faces and Gabriella kept giggling when she saw her friends green faces. On cue, Taylor opened her eyes and pulled a face at her, looking a little like a sea monster with the goop on her face.

"Tay, do you have to do that?" Sharpay said without opening her eyes.

"Do what?" Taylor asked innocently.

"I'm in the middle of deep relaxation right now, do NOT make me kick your ass!"

After another hour the girls were in the hair salon. Sharpay's hair was getting teased into the high bun and fringe that was the trademark of Tinkerbell. Taylor had her hair done up in a bun at the back of her head with a few pieces left done at the front. Gabriella looked in the mirror. Her hair looked amazing. What had started as waist length, slightly curly hair was now piled in a messy bun on her head. On either side of her forehead and at the nape of her neck there were loose curls coming down. The hairstylist had placed a silver and diamond tiara that stood out against her incredibly dark brown hair. She really couldn't stop looking at herself in the mirror.

"Gabs we know you look amazing, stop being so self-centered and compliment us!" Sharpay laughed from her seat.

"Thanks so much for the tiara Shar. I mean it, you're awesome. And you guys both look amazing."

A little later on the girls were with the make up artists. Sharpay was getting her eyes rimmed with gold with gold glitter across her cheekbones and around her eyes. Taylor had a totally natural look, but her eyes were shadowed with golden and brown colours, which looked incredible against her dark skin. Gabriella's dark brown eyes were lined lightly with silver shadow to open them up but the rest of her face looked completely natural. The make up artist working on her had commented on her eyes and the long eyelashes that framed them. They were Gabi's best feature.

Finally it was five thirty pm and the girls were going to Sharpay's house, where their dresses were already waiting for them. They were going to be the first to see Sharpay's masterpiece as she called it.

When the girls arrived at the Evans' Sharpay wouldn't even let them see their dresses, telling the other girls they had to wait until seven thirty until they could put them on. Instead the girls got a tour of the areas of the house and garden where the party was to be held.

Party attendees had to enter through the front door and go through the living room which had been transformed to look like a palace entry way. The backdoors were opened and a part of the Evans' backyard had been covered over by a dance floor, while the rest of the ground had about twenty circular tables covered in white cloths. On each table there were dozens of white candles and each chair had a piece of white silk tied to the back. Surrounding the dance floor and tables were white fairy lights that would be turned on when the party started. The huge pool had white lilies and white candles floating in it.

"Wow" was all Taylor could say.

Gabriella went to open her mouth but couldn't find the words to describe it.

"There's no pink. And no sparkles… This not normal," Taylor joked.

Sharpay giggled. "I found other colours in the rainbow."

At seven thirty the girls got changed into their dresses. They decided to go one at a time to change so they could see each others dresses. Sharpay went first and Gabriella who hadn't seen it before was amazed by both the dress and how much like the fairy her friend looked. When Taylor changed into her costume and put her mask on Gabriella was overwhelmed by how beautiful both her friends looked. It kind of made her sad how in a couple years they would be splitting up and going to different colleges.

"Yours is hanging up in there," Sharpay broke into her friend's thoughts, gesturing to her walk in wardrobe.

Gabriella walked in and the first thing she was a dry cleaner bag hanging up against the wall. She unzipped it and couldn't believe what she saw. Inside was a pale blue ball gown that had a layer of light silver chiffon over it so it sparkled when it moved. The skirt was full enough that it would stand slightly away from her body, but would still show her figure underneath. She slowly put it on. The dress had a zip to halfway up her back then it laced up like a corset. It took her a while to do up but when she'd put it on it showed some of her tanned back. The dress was strapless and she noticed it had little sparkles imbedded in the chiffon which made it sparkle even more. She put on the silver high heels her friend had bought for her and put on the pale blue mask with a slight silver shimmer over it. Looking in the full length mirror, she had to admit she looked like a princess, especially with the tiara.

As soon as she exited the wardrobe she heard her friends gasp.

"Wow," was all Taylor could say.

"You look like a princess. Shot Jean-Francois," Sharpay commented.

* * *

Within an hour all the party guests had arrived. Gabriella had been hanging around inside as she was still too shy to go out where she felt like she'd be the centre of attention. But she had to go outside sometime. Walking slowly down the Evans' staircase her thoughts were with the blue eyed boy who was somewhere in the garden. Gabriella had been trying to tell herself she was okay with seeing Troy, but the truth was she was nervous. What if he was still mad? What if he tried to make her feel bad about that night again? What if he still didn't understand her pain?

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Gabriella paused on the patio just outside her friend's house and surveyed the party. There seemed to be hundreds of people there. In one corner Gabriella could see someone eating fire and a few girls who looked like they were performing circus tricks on a trapeze and a rope. In another corner, the dance floor was filled with people dancing to Now You're Gone. There were people everywhere. Hopefully she'd be able to hide from one boy.

Troy stepped off the dance floor, motioning to Kayla that he wanted to get a drink. She nodded and smiled at him and continued to dance with Taylor and Sharpay. He felt ridiculous in his Prince Charming costume, but it was what Kayla had wanted him to wear. He thought of Chad, Zeke and Ryan. All of them were totally whipped by their girls. Chad had come dressed as the Beast, Ryan was a prince, he had refused to wear wings apparently, but Zeke was the worst. Sharpay had made him wear the full Peter Pan costume. Troy shook his head lightly, the girls in his group were awesome, but they had the boys wrapped around their little fingers.

He wasn't paying attention as he started up the steps onto the patio and managed to bump into and almost knock over a girl standing and watching the party. He quickly grabbed her before she fell and was still holding onto her as she righted herself, laughing slightly.

"Sorry I wasn't paying attention, great party huh?" the girl said, looking down to brush dirt off her dress.

"Yeah it's crazy…" Troy's voice broke off and the colour drained from his face as he looked into the girl's eyes. He knew them. He could never forget those chocolate brown eyes.

Gabriella's face paled as she looked into his eyes. She recognized him instantly. How could she forget those amazing blue eyes? "Troy," she breathed.

Wordlessly, he brushed past her and went into the house.

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**Lucky you, two authors notes. Please review, I tried to set up for as much drama as possible in the coming chapters. Hope I did an okay job on describing her and her dress (think kinda like the dress in A Cinderella Story only less poufy and blue with silver over it instead).**

**And I actually had a conversation with my friend the other day about how there's lots of different Prince Charmings cause I always held the opinion I gave Sharpay (that he was a whore really), but we were talking about Prince Charmings and yeah. According to my friend Katie they were all brothers because they were called Erik and Derek etc. Go figure...**

**Love love!**


	6. Chapter 6

Troy continued to walk through the Evans house until he reached the top of the staircase. Unconsciously, he turned right to the room where he had been the most in this house, where Sharpay and Ryan held sleepovers and parties. He didn't turn the lights on; instead he sank down onto a couch in the dark room and put his head in his hands. _She's back. Obviously Shar and Tay know, that's what they must have been hiding from me. How could they do that? _Troy let out a groan. _She's back and the first thing you do is walk away from her. She's probably really upset right now. _"I am such an idiot" he said aloud with his head still in his hands.

"You're not an idiot." The soft voice from the doorway startled Troy and he jumped. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"I wasn't scared," Troy tried to defend himself.

"Of course, the Wildcat can't show his true feelings right?"

"Damn straight." He tried to ease the pressure by making a joke.

"Then the Wildcat really _is_ an idiot." Gabriella closed the door and walked into the room, sitting next to Troy on the couch. "You always used to tell me the truth Troy, don't be afraid to now."

In his silence she stood and walked to the window seat. "Do you remember how we used to sit out here on the window sill and talk while everyone else was asleep?" She laughed, the beautiful sound he would always remember. "That was how we found out Chad eats in his sleep."

He joined in her laugh. "How could I forget? Sharpay was so mad at him for eating our breakfast that time, I swear she didn't speak to him for a week."

"Two" she corrected him, pulling her dress up and sitting out on the window sill. From there, she could look over the street that was bathed in moonlight. "It's funny how things change, huh?"

Troy climbed up beside her. "I never got a chance to say this but-"

He was cut off by her hand across his mouth. "Don't. I can't say that it's okay cause it wasn't, but I understand and I forgave you a long time ago. You need to forgive yourself. But please don't spoil this night by dragging up the past."

Her hand was still over his mouth until he nodded and she removed it.

"Can I just say that I missed you? Life wasn't the same when you were gone."

Gabriella smiled a little at that. "I missed you too. I think my mom still wishes you were either her son or we were still together," she laughed.

He smiled in memory of the many times he had been told that by Mrs Montez. "She's not Mrs Montez anymore is she?"

Gabriella shook her head lightly. "Nope. She met Dave, long story short she's now Mrs Maria Miller and I have the two cutest half sisters ever. Hunter and Cassidy."

"You always did want a sister."

"Yeah but that was when I was nine and wanted someone to boss around and do their hair and make up." She laughed again. "I was so mad at mom and dad for not having another kid."

The two of them laughed at that then talked about the Bolton family.

"Is it still insane?"

"You have no idea. Mom and dad had ANOTHER kid so the current grand total is eight. Kaitlyn and Maia moved out finally so I have the big room now. Just have to look out for Dylan, Marie, Jacinta and Antony. It's total chaos. I hate having so many sisters though. I never get the bathroom now that Dyl's eighteen and Marie's fifteen. You should so come and visit though. They'd love it."

The dark haired girl smiled at the invitation. She remembered exactly what the Bolton household was like. Troy's oldest sister's would argue about anything and everything, to them it was a basic way to communicate. Troy would usually try to stay out of their fights, but sometimes would have to play referee. The younger two girls were cute, but only in small doses. Their shrieks had usually left her ears ringing. Somewhere in all that though, they all had their talents. Troy played basketball, while the girls mixed up singing, dancing, painting, sport or playing at least three instruments. The house was always full of people and noise, it had been Gabriella's haven from her only child home.

She snapped out of her thoughts when Troy waved a hand in front of her face. "Earth to Gabs. Where are you?"

"Gabs to Earth, position is next to the Wildcat."

"Oh ha ha very funny."

"I was just thinking about your sisters actually. How did your parents manage to spawn such talent?" she laughed at his surprised face. "No I was just thinking, I hope I'm as lucky with Hunter and Cass as you've been with yours. I know they drive you crazy, but they do care about you a lot. And I know you'd do anything for them."

"They'll always love you. Hell, if they don't you can have one of my sisters, they REALLY love you. I swear, for the past three years I haven't heard anything but praise for you and crap about me."

"What about Kayla?" Gabriella asked softly.

"They like her…but it didn't help that the first time they met her we were making out on my bed," Troy admitted.

She laughed at that, eventually he joined her and all the tension that her question had held disappeared.

For another hour or so the two continued to share stories about their lives during the past three years and about their childhood.

Eventually Troy looked at his watch. It was 10:30. "Wow we should be getting back to the party."

"Oh crap, Shar's gonna kill me. I think she threw this for me and if I don't enjoy it enough, she will smother me in my sleep."

He didn't laugh that time because he had experienced Sharpay's rage and knew exactly what she was capable of. She had sent more than one person to hospital in her time. Troy climbed off the window sill and held out his hand to help Gabriella down. When she had gotten back into the room he didn't let go, instead, raised it to his lips and kissed her fingers.

"I know I didn't show you well enough, but I really loved you."

She put her arms around his neck and hugged him close. "I still love you. I never stopped Troy."

He pulled away from her slightly to look her in her chocolate brown eyes. She was staring back up at him, watching as he leaned in towards her. He was tilting his head and closing his eyes when he jumped back and straightened up.

"I can't do this. I'm sorry. I have Kayla and I love her. I have to go."

With that, for the second time that night, Troy Bolton walked away from Gabriella Montez, leaving her standing in a dark room with tears in her eyes.

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**I know it's been ages since I updated and I am really sorry. I went away with some of my friends and got THE BEST tan. And I know this is super short so I'm gonna try post two chapters at the same time.**


	7. Chapter 7

Kayla grinned as she saw her boyfriend finally return to the party.

"Hey Prince Charming" she leant over towards him to kiss him. "Where'd you disappear to? I had to dance with Jason cause you weren't here." She poked her tongue out at the indignant Jason with a laugh. When Troy didn't laugh she looked closely at him. He looked as though he'd been running, his cheeks were a little flushed and his chest was rising and falling rapidly with each breath. She leaned over to him. "Are you okay?" she whispered in his ear. When he nodded she continued. "You look a little, I don't know, rushed or something. Are you sure everything's okay?"

"Course babe, come on, let's dance. I can't have you just dancing with Jason now, can I?" She giggled as he held his arm out, and taking it, kissed him on the cheek as he led her out onto the dance floor.

After half an hour, Troy could see Gabriella standing on the back porch watching him dance with his girlfriend. He raised his head slightly and looked her in the eyes, before lowering it to Kayla again. When the music changed to The Script's "I'm Yours", he put his arms around her waist, and as she put hers around his neck, whispered in her ear, "I love you."

She pulled back slightly so she could look into his face and smiled. "I love you too."

* * *

As Gabriella watched Troy and his girlfriend revolve slowly on the dance floor, her eyes started to fill with tears. Instantly, her two best friends came to stand beside her, the blonde resting her head on Gabriella's shoulder, while the black haired girl put her arm around her waist.

"Do you wanna stay the night?" Sharpay offered quietly.

"No, I think I need to be away from people right now. Can we go home now?" Gabriella asked Taylor.

"Yeah I'll just go say goodbye to Chad, Shar, can you get Ryan to take care of the rest of the party?" Taylor asked.

Sharpay nodded. "Meet me back here in five minutes."

With that the two girls sped off and true to Sharpay's word, five minutes later the three were being driven to Taylor's house in one of the Evans' chauffeured cars in silence.

When the finally got out of the car the girls bid goodnight to the driver and entered house. They got into their pyjamas and settled down in Taylor's bedroom to wait for Gabriella to start talking.

It didn't take long. "I can't believe it. I mean I knew but…I love him. I don't even know why I'm crying right now," she said as tears streamed down her face.

"Sweetie, you love him, and I know you knew about Kayla, but you didn't believe it until you saw it. I know it hurts honey."

Gabriella started sobbing as she recounted what had passed between Troy and herself earlier that night. When she had finished, Sharpay was fuming.

"How DARE he?! He is such an ass! So he totally ignored what happened, went to kiss you, freaked out and then went and played happy relationships with Kayla? She doesn't even deserve that! She's seriously like the nicest person at East High! Oh when I see Bolton…"

"Shar, please just leave it. I'm done." Gabriella held her hands up in defeat.

"What do you mean 'done'?" Taylor asked gently.

"I'm done being in love with him. I can't wait for him, I'm better than that. This twisted thing is finished. I'm getting over him. Mind over matter right?"

"Gabs… Will that work?" Sharpay was surprised at her friend's choice.

"It has to. I will make it work" Gabriella was determined; her friends could see it in her face. They both knew that they wouldn't be able to talk her out of her choice.

* * *

Early the next morning the three girls were woken by Taylor's younger sister bouncing around the room screaming that it was Christmas. Mrs McKessie wasn't thrown by the fact that Sharpay was there as she was used to the girls just staying over at each others houses, instead she asked her to invite Ryan around, knowing the Evans parents were away for the holiday. When he turned up bearing a few presents (but still leaving hundreds under their tree), the rest of the family had pancakes and waffles for breakfast, before opening presents.

To Gabriella's surprise there were three under the McKessie tree for her, one from the family, one from her mom and step-dad and one from her two best friends. After she had opened the diamond friendship bracelet from Taylor and Sharpay and the $150 gift card to a popular store from the McKessie's, someone handed her a small box that rattled as it moved. Opening it, she was surprised to see only a key ring with a single key. When it finally clicked she ran to the window to see a black on black Porsche Cayman sitting in the driveway. Screaming, she raced outside and unlocked the door. It was beautiful and it was the dream car she didn't know she wanted.

Later that day she called her mom to thank her for the car.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!"

Her mother laughed as her teenage daughter gushed down the phone.

"_You're welcome baby, I'm sorry we couldn't be there. You should see the girls, they're totally ignoring their presents and playing with the wrapping paper!"_

"Awww they're so cute! I wish I was there with you mom, I miss you guys so much!"

"_I know sweetie, I'm so sorry we can't be there. I promise you, we'll be there soon. This Christmas while packing is so hard, at least you get a tree there."_ Gabriella could tell that being away from her daughter for the first time in her life was hard on her mother.

"I miss you too mom, but you should go and take lots of photos for me okay? I love you."

"_I love you too baby. Dave sends his love too."_

"Give him and the girls a big hug and kiss from me okay? I'll see you in a week. Bye mom."

As Gabriella hung up the phone Taylor, Sharpay and Ryan approached her.

"So, since you've been gone we kinda started this tradition where everyone comes to our house and watch movies and stuff and have take out, you wanna come? Troy's not invited." Sharpay said bluntly.

"Shar, I can't break up a tradition you guys have," Gabriella resisted.

Ryan was on his sister's side though. "Gab, they told me what happened, and it's our tradition, not theirs. We can say who's invited. Besides, if he has a problem, we can set Shar on him," he laughed.

Giggling, Gabriella agreed. They gave her five minutes to grab her cell phone and throw on jeans and Ugg boots with a turquoise knitted hoodie and they left. On the way the explained that Zeke would be bringing baked goods, Kelsi brought music for them to dance to and Ryan and Sharpay would pay for the take out. They had it down to a fine art.

By the time all four teens had piled out of Ryan's SUV and filed into they downstairs movie theatre, the room was already full of their friends who had been let in by the housekeeper. They were arguing over the movies Chad had selected to watch.

"Die Hard 1,2,3 and 4?" Kelsi picked up one of the DVDs and hit Chad around the back of the head with it. "We're not all full of testosterone!"

It took about half an hour for the girls to win the argument and play The Notebook first. And about half an hour after that Chad got a call on his cell phone.

"Hello? Oh… Hey Troy."

At that eight heads snapped towards Chad as he walked out of the room.

"No we're all here. But, dude I don't think that's such a good idea"

"Chad!" Sharpay hissed at him, motioning to put him on speakerphone. He shook his head and turned back to his phone call.

"Dude, we all know what happened."

Martha, who was sitting closest to Gabriella, put her arm around her.

"Troy we aren't taking sides! It's just… right now she needs us more than you do. Sorry man." He closed him phone and turned to see seven people staring at him and Gabriella staring at the floor.

"Troy's a little….mad right now. He'll be okay." Chad tried to explain.

"Who the hell cares? He's an ass, he's not coming anywhere near Gabs again." Sharpay was still angry about the previous night.

"Guys can we just watch the movie?" Gabriella asked quietly, she sounded close to tears, prompting Jason to almost fall over Zeke as he grabbed the remote to press play again.

* * *

The next few days were spent eating, sleeping and watching Christmas movies. Gabriella didn't have to do any homework like the rest of her friends, as she hadn't been there when it was received. Instead she spent her time preparing for going back to school with Troy. She wanted to look good, not to make him jealous, but so that she might attract someone else to help her get over Troy. It didn't hurt that she always felt far more confident dressed up.

So on the morning of January 4th, Gabriella woke at 5:30 and dressed in dark blue skinny jeans which she tucked into black heeled boots and a black v-neck sweater with gold thread running through it. She left her hair out in waves and put a minimal amount of make up on her brown eyes, along with lip gloss. Then suddenly, she ran into Taylor's room.

"Do I look okay? I mean, I don't want to look over done, but I want to look good. I don't want to try too hard to look good though. Taylor help me!" she wailed to her friend.

Taylor turned from her dresser where she was also deciding what to wear. "G, I'm no good at this, call Shar and ask her to come over."

Fifteen minutes later Sharpay arrived in her pink convertible, armed with Ryan, who was carrying a huge bag, and not looking very happy about it.

"Where would you like me to put this crap?" he asked Sharpay sourly. "Your Highness."

"Take it to Gabi's room please. Thank you brother dearest!" Sharpay called over her shoulder to her brother who was stomping up the stairs. Taylor came out of her room.

"Pssst! Ry!" she stage whispered down the hallway.

"Pssst! What Tay-Tay?" he whispered back.

"Mom's making pancakes and bacon for breakfast. She'll feed you too."

A huge smile made Ryan's face light up. He dropped the bag of clothing by Gabriella's door and ran to Taylor, kissing her on both cheeks while hugging her.

"You, Taylor Elizabeth McKessie are an angel and I will never, ever say anything against that I swear to you."

"Yeah, sure," she laughed. "Go. Eat." She urged him.

"Gaaaabiiii," Taylor called. "Sharpie's here and she brought you clothes."

The door opened and a hand reached past the door to grab the bag while a voice screamed out "Sharpay!" from inside. It didn't take long for all three girls to decide on the same jeans and boots with a big black t-shirt that was cut to reveal one shoulder with a red singlet underneath. A red belt showed off her tiny waist and Gabriella admitted she looked good.

"Okay, so can we go to school now? Darbus will flip out if we're late." Taylor was anxious to get to school on time.

Sharpay on the other hand was not. "Whatev," she said, waving a hand in the air. "She won't care about me or Gabs, she'll flip out if YOU'RE late Tay."

With that the three girls left, with Ryan only noticing their departure when the front door slammed. "She always does that," he complained to the laughing Mrs McKessie, before running out the door, shouting his thanks behind him. He got outside just in time to jump in the passenger seat of Sharpay's car as she pulled out after Gabriella in her Porsche.

When they arrived at East High, Ryan walked in while the three girls armed themselves outside.

"You ready for this G?" Sharpay asked her friend.

"As I'll ever be." She replied. Then the three girls linked arms and marched through the doors to East High.

* * *

**So I'm not overly happy with this chapter but that's okay I guess, let me know what you think. I'm sorry it took so long to update, but you did get two at once...**

**Also, I'm thinking about a ChadPay story. Basically, no one knows they're together and then shortly after everyone DOES find out, Sharpay finds out she's pregnant. I'm really bad with summaries so let me know what you think.**

**Love you! R&R please!**

**xxx**


	8. Chapter 8

Troy's world seemed to stop as he saw his ex-girlfriend walk through the doors of his high school. She seemed so confident and happy, not at all like the girl he'd been hearing about from Chad. Their eyes connected and he smiled a quick hello, before her eyes moved on without seeming to have seen him at all. He saw her face light up and followed her eye line to see Noah Matthews, a boy on the same basketball team as Troy, although not one of his friends. He had also been through middle school with the gang. Noah was staring at Gabriella like he almost wanted to go and drool over her. _She's mine._ He thought angrily. Then realized he'd given up the chance to say that long ago. He had to watch her flirt with other boys, as she was doing now.

"Noah? Noah Matthews?" Gabriella was shocked to see that the boy who used to have thick Harry Potter glasses covering his green eyes and wore jeans with suspenders was now an incredibly good looking young man, with the same sparkling green eyes and dark brown hair that hung straight to just below his ears. His dress sense had improved too and Gabriella couldn't help noticing the definition in his arms…he worked out, but he still had a goofy look on his face, showing his insane sense of humor.

"Yeah, who are you?" Noah was staring at her in confusion. "Wait, you're not… Gabriella Montez?" He put his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "Look who grew up!"

She giggled. "How have you been Noah? I haven't talked to you in years!"

"Yup, ever since you and Bolton were attached at the hip!" he gave her a fake disapproving look. "Have you never heard the saying 'bro's before ho's'?"

"So, let me get this straight: you're telling me off for not contacting you AND you're calling my ex a ho?" she laughed at him.

"Oh so he's an ex? And I take it your DEAR friends" he swung his arms around Sharpay and Taylor's shoulders, "have not been keeping you informed about Troy-Boy?"

"Ah Noah, I remember back in the _good _old days. Back when you were too scared to talk to a girl other than Gabs here, and you wouldn't think about entering my personal space." Sharpay elbowed him in the stomach. "Gosh I miss those days."

"Sharpay dearest, your words hurt more than your elbow ever could." Noah looked down at the blonde girl, his eyes sad.

"Maybe I'm just not hitting you hard enough…" Sharpay pretended to think out loud. At that moment Zeke came over to Noah and the two girls. The boys greeted and did their half man-hug thing while Sharpay tried to make eye contact with Gabriella.

"Hey, Gab and I have to sort out her class schedule so we'll see you guys later okay?" she stood on tip toes to kiss her boyfriend goodbye and waved at Noah. "Come on Gabs!"

As she was dragged away from the boys, Noah waved at Gabriella, calling that it was good to see she was back, before turning back and starting a conversation with Zeke.

"How do you know him? He is CUTE!" Gabriella implored her friend for details about Noah.

Sharpay laughed. "I see this is helping the plan well. He's on the basketball team, and he's also in the drama club. He's a great singer and actor, could use a little help on his dancing though. Had a couple girlfriends, but nothing really serious as he's more like every girls best friend, which isn't always a good thing he tells me. He's still got the same weird sense of humor, is far too sarcastic for his own good, and judging by the way he's looking at you right now, he likes you." She laughed again as her friend tried to turn while walking to see what Sharpay was talking about and almost tripped over.

"What about school? He can't be good at everything…" Gabriella was in disbelief about Noah's talents. Surely he can't be good at everything?

"Well, he's not a genius, but he's not stupid either. But he IS looking for a chem. Tutor, you interested?"

"Very!" Gabriella was pleased that so far her plan had been problem free. "One question though"

"Shoot."

"How do you know everything about him?"

"We uh….dated. Last year. We decided we're better as friends and now he's one of my best friends. Nothing happened between us, there was no spark. Not like Zeke." The blonde's face became suddenly calm as she thought about her boyfriend. Then she snapped out of it, realizing they were at the main office.

When Gabriella's timetable had been collected, the girls realized they only had three classes together as well as homeroom, math, chemistry and gym.

* * *

When the two girls arrived in Ms Darbus' homeroom class and handed over a late slip, Gabriella realized both Troy and Noah were in the same class.

"Take a seat anywhere Ms Montez," Ms Darbus directed her.

She watched Sharpay slip into her regular seat next to Ryan and stood for a moment, wondering where to sit. Then, at the same time, Noah, and to her surprise, Troy, waved and gestured an empty seat. Opting to take the one next to Noah she whispered a thanks to him as Ms Darbus began a speech saying she hoped everyone had good holidays but no more slacking off.

"Blah blah blah."

"What?" Noah looked over at her and Gabriella blushed, realizing that she had been thinking out loud.

"Nothing." She put her head on her desk. _Great, first day here and the first cute guy I meet thinks I'm a total spaz!_

As the bell signaling the end of homeroom, Gabriella looked at her schedule and saw that she had chemistry next with Sharpay. As she walked toward her friend, Noah called from the back of the room "Ready for chem princess?"

"As I'll ever be," Sharpay called back.

Gabriella smiled as she realized she'd have another class with Noah. The three of them walked to their next class together with Noah's arms over the shoulders of both girls. As they walked through the door the teacher saw him with the two girls.

"Mr. Matthews, could you kindly detach your body parts from Ms Evans and Ms.."

"Montez," Gabriella supplied.

"Montez? I really don't want to have to give a detention out during the first class of the semester, even if it is to you."

He laughed. "Sorry Mrs. Capri. I know you hate giving me detentions."

The woman sighed. "And I wouldn't have to if you would start paying attention in class Noah. How's the search for a tutor coming?"

Gabriella slowly walked away from her new friend and his teacher as they discussed tutoring and test results. She snapped to attention however when she realized Sharpay was saying her name.

"Gabriella could tutor him Mrs. C, she's pretty much a genius and I bet she wouldn't mind at all." As she said the last part, Sharpay turned to face her friend with a huge smile on her face.

"Gabriella? Would you be able to tutor Noah here?" the teacher asked her.

She took in Sharpay's triumphant smile, the teacher's earnest look and Noah's shy, self conscious smile.

"Sure."

As the bell rang to signify the start of classes, Noah came and whispered in her ear. "Thanks. If it wasn't you it would have to be Jamie over there," he said, pointing to a girl sitting two rows behind who was sitting and staring at him. She waved and smiled at Noah, then turned and glared at Gabriella.

"She's a little creepy."

"So I see. When do you wanna start tutoring?" she asked him.

He looked thoughtful for a moment then said, "What about tonight? I have basketball until five but maybe six or so?"

"Sounds good, I'm at the McKessie's house at the moment, I'll ask if you can stay for dinner and we can get started okay?" Gabriella asked him, hoping she didn't look too eager.

"I get to have some of Mrs. McKessie's cooking AND I get to see you? Sounds perfect." The corners of his mouth lifted into a flirtatious smile.

Gabriella smiled back and took a seat next to him.

* * *

The rest of the day passed in a blur for Gabriella until gym class. She had Troy's dad as her teacher and Sharpay had told her that this class had both Troy and Kayla in it. Luckily for her, Noah was in this class too. She had discovered they had almost the same schedule apart from different history classes.

Gabriella walked into the girls locker room to change and immediately recognized Kayla who came to say hi to Sharpay.

"You must be Gabriella," she smiled. "I've heard a lot about you from Shar and Taylor."

"Whatever she said, it was Sharpay's fault," Gabriella joked, causing Kayla to laugh and Sharpay to glare.

"Don't worry, all the stories were good, or blatant lies," Kayla laughed.

Gabriella was surprised to find how much she liked the girl. She was pretty, funny and smart. _No wonder Troy likes her._

She changed into a pair of red short-shorts and a black tank top with a pair of black sneakers and was tying her hair into a messy bun while Sharpay changed into pink and white shorts with a white t shirt. They waited for Kayla to change into her blue tank top and white shorts and the three girls left to walk into the gym together.

As they entered, Kayla asked Gabriella if she knew Troy.

"Um…" Gabriella didn't know what to say.

"They used to be really good friends, but kinda lost touch when she moved." Gabriella made a mental note to thank Sharpay for covering for her.

"Oh, well you should come say hi!" Kayla pressed.

"Maybe later okay?" Gabriella tried to keep Kayla from forcing her to go and 'introduce' herself to her ex boyfriend.

"No, come now!" the girl continued.

Gabriella was forced to go over to Troy.

"Hey…" She tried to fake cheeriness instead of dread at seeing him.

"Hey Gabs!" She was pleased to see that he looked as awkward as she felt. "Um, long time no see!"

"I know it's been forever! Um, I have to go talk to Sharpay so I'll see you guys later on." With that, Gabriella walked away breathing a sigh of relief.

Sharpay gave her a hug. "Awkward much?"

"You have no idea."

Both Troy and Gabriella were relieved when Coach Bolton entered the gym and blew his whistle.

"Welcome back everyone! Today I'll be doing roll call and then we'll be starting a gymnastics unit" he said to a mixed reaction of groans and cheers.

"Nicky Adams!"

"Here coach!"

"Okay Zeke Baylor!"

"Here coach!" Sharpay smiled over to her boyfriend.

"Troy! You better be here son!" a few people laughed at his comment.

"Here coach!"

"Jade Brown!"

"Here!"

This continued until "Caitlin Zeeron!"

"Here!"

"Okay excellent. I want you all to pair up and label yourselves one or two. No Noah, there will be no sevens, I don't care how much you like that number."

"Oh man! Hey, Zeke! Pair?"

Sharpay turned to Gabriella, "this should be your thing right? Wanna be my partner?"

Gabriella nodded. When Coach Bolton saw that everyone had been paired up he yelled out "Okay now ones on the right side of the gym, twos on the left! Say goodbye to your friends people!"

This was met with more groaning. Gabriella, noticing that Noah was heading towards the right of the gym, turned and walked with him, smiling back when he looked down and smiled at her.

"Okay team one, you guys will be using the equipment, the bars, beam and vault. If you're not using equipment, you'll be running laps around the gym. Team two; you guys will be practicing handstands and cartwheels on the mats. You'll be doing that for half an hour, then switching!"

As he turned and left the gym, half of team one started running laps while the other half made their way to the equipment. Gabriella was on the beam first.

_Okay, so this is where dance and gymnastics will pay off_ she thought, extending her leg and pointing her toes. She took a deep breath and cart wheeled on the beam, landing in the splits. Putting her legs on either side of the beam, she lifted herself up and swung her body onto the surface of the beam. From here, she flipped herself over so she was doing a handstand and pulled her legs down to do the splits again. Righting herself, she did three back flips in succession, before doing a double somersault and landing on her feet at the other end of the beam and closing her eyes. Taking another deep breath, she opened her eyes to see everyone in her gym class staring at her.

"Oops," she muttered.

Noah was the first to speak, from dangling off the rings. "Where did you learn how to do that?"

She shrugged. "I've been doing gymnastics since I was six and dancing since I was ten."

"You're really good. REALLY good. You should join the cheerleading squad or the dance team." A red-headed girl spoke from the corner where she had been doing a handstand.

"I dunno. It doesn't matter. Can everyone please get back to what they were doing?" No one moved. "Please?" Gabriella sighed with relief as everyone started moving again. The red head however, came up to her.

"My name is Ally. I'm the head cheerleader here and I'm on the dance team too. We have cheerleading practice here after school, you should come try out," she said as soon as she reached Gabriella.

"Look, I'm not so big on the jumping and squealing thing okay? But the dance team sounds cool."

Ally shook her head. "We don't just jump and squeal and we are not sluts. Yes, I can tell that's what you're thinking. And we could really use you on the team. Come to our practice and you'll see." She turned and walked away.

Gabriella went over to Sharpay. "She wants me to be a cheerleader."

The blonde shook her head. "What's wrong with that? I didn't tell you but uh…I'm actually on the team. It's pretty cool actually. We really don't do the squealing thing and it really is a lot of fun. Ally's a good captain too. You should come check out practice this afternoon."

"We'll see okay?"

Kayla came jogging over to the two girls. "Gabs that was amazing! You should join the cheerleading squad! Me and Shar are on it!"

Gabriella was unsurprised by this admission, the girl's perkiness and happiness would make her a perfect cheerleader.

"Maybe. Is half an hour up yet? I wanna switch."

When the class had finished, Gabriella was the last to leave the gym. She was thinking about the offer she'd received from the three girls. Maybe she'd go for it.

As she was walking down the corridor that split to go to the girls and boys locker rooms she heard voices. One was Kayla's, the other was Troy's.

"Babe, what's wrong with you?"

"There's nothing wrong with me Kay, I love you. I just don't think it's such a good idea for you to become friends with Gabriella."

Gabriella quickly hid around the corner from the two, shocked at how Troy was behaving.

"You can't pick my friends for me Troy. Give me a reason why not?" Gabriella was surprised again to hear that Kayla didn't even seem mad at Troy's behavior. She was actually being reasonable and calm.

"Look, me and Gabs, we used to go out. It was about three years ago, but it's just a little weird."

"Baby, I love you, and I'm glad you told me. But if anyone should feel weird, isn't it me? You don't have to spend lots of time with her, but I like her and I want to be friends with her."

"I don't want you to do that."

"You don't have a choice Troy. It's my life. I know you love me and I know it'll be a little awkward, but it's my choice."

Gabriella could hear footsteps walking away. She came around the corner and saw Troy with his head against the wall.

"You really shouldn't try to control what she does, girls hate that."

He looked up and saw her standing there.

"Don't you find it a little weird? I mean, she's my girlfriend."

She shrugged. "Not really, she's a nice girl. I can see why you like her."

"Gabs, I'm sorry about that night at Sharpay's. I shouldn't have let things get to that point."

She shrugged again. "It doesn't matter, I'm over it. See you later Troy."

As Gabriella walked away she could have sworn she heard him groan, but she didn't look back.

* * *

The rest of the day passed quickly and before she knew it Gabriella was back in her gym clothes and was standing in front of Ally and the rest of the cheerleaders.

"Girls, this is Gabriella Montez," she was saying. "Some of you were in gym today and saw what she can do. She's good."

"Al, how good? You know the policy." A brunette girl spoke up.

"There's a policy?" Gabriella was confused.

"Yeah," an Asian girl said. "We only take the best, therefore we ARE the best. We are champions. We're the best in the country. You think you can keep up with us?"

"Zoe, calm down." Ally turned to face Gabriella. "Show them."

"Show them what?"

"Show them what you can do Gabs." Sharpay nodded to the center of the gym.

"Sure."

She walked to the center of the gymnasium. "I don't really know any cheers so I hope this is okay."

She did a back flip and landed in the splits. Reaching behind herself, she did an arch over her back leg and used her arms to push herself up again, flipping over again. Spinning on one leg while the other was pointed in front of her ballet style, she stopped and faced the front of the gym and the other girls. From there she began to dance, a combination of hip hop, ballet and jazz. She ended with a standing forward tuck which she led into a series of forward flips which ended in the splits again. She raised her arms in the air when she finished and waited.

The Asian girl Ally had called Zoe walked over to her. She held out a hand to help Gabriella up and said to her, "Welcome to the squad."

Ally nodded and the rest of the girls all took turns introducing themselves.

"Mickey." A strawberry blonde girl.

"Emma." An African American girl.

"Skye." A brunette girl.

"Zoe." The Asian girl who had said the policy. "I'm vice-captain."

There were at least ten more names that Gabriella knew she'd never remember. Then Ally announced that practice was starting officially and that she wanted to show Gabriella the routines.

"Gabs, we don't just cheer at games. Ever seen Bring It On?" Gabriella nodded. "We do the competitions too. And we _always_ win. Let's go girls!"

They took their places and after Ally had counted them in, they launched into a series of complicated choreography combined with throws and gymnastic stunts.

"W-I-L-D WILDCATS! W-I-L-D WILDCATS! East High Boys, make some noise for W-I-L-D WILDCATS! School pride let's show it! We're champions and we know it! WILDCATS are the best RED WHITE AND GOLD! When it's time to win we do it! We're number one and we've proved it! Scream it out! Say it loud! Let's show what we are all about! Wildcats, everywhere! Throw your hands up in the air! That's the way we do it! Let's get to it! Time to show the world!"

There were a few more minutes of choreography before they all pulled a final pose with some girls on the shoulders of others and some lying on the ground in the splits. They held that for a second before Ally asked Gabriella, "What do you think?"

"Wow," was all she could say. "You guys are amazing."

"We have regionals in a month. You'll need to be at every practice. And not chatting up Noah Matthews," Ally laughed.

Gabriella blushed. "Okay, when do you guys practice?"

"Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays after school. We go to every basketball game and some football and baseball ones. Occasionally we'll have a Saturday practice too. You need to attend every practice unless you have a note from a teacher or parent." Ally smiled. "We need you to be dedicated. We like to win."

For another hour and a half Gabriella practiced with the cheerleaders, learning the routines and cheers. When five o'clock rolled around, Ally finally let the girls go. On the way out of the gym Gabriella turned to Sharpay and Kayla and whispered, "Is it always that hard out?"

"Mostly. Sometimes she's worse," Sharpay replied.

"There's no teacher coach, so Ally has to organize pretty much everything on her own. She's hard on us sometimes, but mostly it's because someone's slacking off and like she said, we like to win." Gabriella was surprised to hear how serious Kayla sounded.

"Okay. Oh crap! Noah's coming over in an hour for tutoring! Sorry guys, I have to go. See you tomorrow!" Gabriella ran to grab her things and raced out to the car park. As she was getting into her car she saw Noah leaving the outside basketball court.

"Hey!" she called out to him. "Need a ride?"

She watched his face brighten as he saw her and jogged over.

"Nice car," he commented.

"Thanks. So you wanna lift home?"

"Sounds good, I don't live too far away from here."

He directed her to his house and as he got out he told her he'd see her in about forty-five minutes. She sped home, ignoring most of the road rules, and raced up the stairs to shower, while yelling hello to Mrs. McKessie.

Twenty minutes later, Gabriella was out of the shower after washing and blow drying her hair and shaving her legs and was deciding what to wear.

It took ten minutes to decide on a dark red v necked t shirt with a pair of stonewash skinny jeans. She put on a pair of black flats and applied some lip gloss and light eye make up.

Just as she was finishing, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" Gabriella yelled, running down the stairs and past both Mrs. McKessie and Taylor who were laughing at her.

_He's early_ she thought with a smile. She took a few seconds to fix her hair before throwing open the door with a huge smile which faded almost instantly.

Instead of Noah, Troy Bolton was standing on the McKessie doorstep.

"We need to talk."

* * *

**That was much longer than I thought it would be! I don't know if anything Gabriella did is physically possible as I don't dance or do gymnastics. Hope you enjoy the update. And imagine that Noah kinda looks like Adam Brody or Nick Jonas (but green eyes and straight hair).**

**I tried to make Kayla seem really likeable so if you hate her I haven't really done my job right. And I didn't really expect Troy to turn up at the end either so yeah...**

**Review if you liked it.**

**Love and God bless!**

**xxx**


	9. Chapter 9

Gabriella's first instinct was to slam the door in Troy's face. He must have known that would happen as he put his hand out to stop the door closing.

"Gabs, please," he pleaded. She'd always been a sucker for his puppy dog eyes.

"Fine," she sighed, opening the door all the way.

"Hey No…oh, hey Troy," Taylor started to call then realized she was greeting the wrong person. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to Gabi." His normally bright blue eyes turned a shade of grey, showing the seriousness of his visit.

"Come in here," Gabriella said, gesturing through the doors into the dining room. She grabbed place mats and cutlery and started setting the table. "Make yourself useful."

He started copying her actions. "I came here to talk about Kayla."

"She's really nice, I like her."

"I know." He smiled briefly before his face hardened again. "Look, Gabriella, don't become friends with her."

"What the hell are you talking about Bolton?" she was shocked at his statement.

"She likes you but I don't want you guys to be friends." She couldn't believe he was actually being serious.

"Why exactly is that?" she asked, her voice dangerously low.

He ignored her tone and went on, "Because if you guys get too close, she'll find out stuff she shouldn't. Stuff about you and about me and that can't happen."

"So let me get this straight," Gabriella said icily. "You come into the house I am staying at uninvited, demand that I don't become friends with your girlfriend who I actually happen to LIKE, because you're afraid she'll find out about your past, namely ME?" Her volume rose at the end until she was shouting at him.

"What is your problem Bolton? The whole world doesn't revolve around you and your pathetic existence! You are so self-centered! I can't believe I wasted all this time on you!" She yelled in disgust.

Troy had the decency to look shamefaced. "Actually, I was hoping it would keep me from falling in love with you again," he said quietly.

"Oh believe me, that won't be a problem. I don't want to see you ever again. Get the hell out of this house." Her voice was back to being icy as she pushed him out of the room, down the hall and out the front door, before finally allowing herself the satisfaction of slamming it in his face.

"ARGH!!!!" she screamed, attracting the attention of all of the McKessie's, who came running.

"What is it, what's wrong?" Mrs. McKessie was concerned about Gabriella as she slumped against the door and slowly dropped until she was sitting on the floor.

"What happened?" Taylor asked softly.

"He thinks he can control who I'm friends with. And he said that he didn't want to fall in love with me again. Tay, I'm so confused. He wants me to not be friends with Kayla but she's nice and I really like her. Why do I still love him?" Tears started streaming down her face, making her eye make up run as she hunched her shoulders over. "How can I keep loving him?"

Taylor simply got down on the floor next to her best friend and put her arms around her.

"It'll get easier, I promise. Honey, do you want me to call Noah and cancel?"

Gabriella shook her head.

"Okay, do you want Shar and Ryan to come over for dinner too? And Chad and the rest?"

She shook her head again. "Too many people, maybe just Shar, Ry and Chad."

"Okay sweetie." Taylor got up from the floor and held her hand out to Gabriella. "Up you get. I'll go call them, you go wash your face okay? I'll see you in a few minutes."

Gabriella started up the stairs as Taylor pulled out her cell phone. She heard the beginning of the conversation with Sharpay.

"Hey Shar?---You wanna come over for dinner?---Troy was just here---Just being his usual asshole self---Yeah bring Ryan too---Okay see you in a few.---Love you too."

Gabriella continued up the stairs, ignoring the doorbell ringing and the sound of Taylor calling Chad. She washed her face and reapplied some of her make up before walking back down the stairs to see Noah standing in the entry to the McKessie home.

"Hey," he smiled up at her.

"Hey," she replied. "You ready for some of Mrs. McKessie's cooking?"

"Always," Noah grinned. "And I even brought my books so just in case I can't change your mind and you still want to study, I'll be ready."

"How exactly were you planning on changing my mind?" she asked, walking closer to him until they were touching.

"Well," he put his arms around her. "I have my ways. I can sing, dance, juggle or play the trombone."

Gabriella laughed. Noah was so different to Troy. All the jokes, the laughing, it all came so much easier with him. And he was gorgeous, even she had to admit that.

"Hey Noah, dinner's almost ready. Gabs, you wanna finish setting the table?" Taylor came into the hallway.

"Hey are you okay?" when Taylor walked out, Noah lowered his head to Gabriella's. "You look sad."

"Yeah I'm fine." She smiled up at him to prove it to both of them. "Come on, you can help," she laughed, pulling him into the dining room.

Dinner was about to be served when Chad and the Evans' rang the doorbell then walked into the house.

"Kitchen!" Taylor called down the hallway and a few moments later the three walked in.

Taylor immediately ran to Chad to give him a hug, while Sharpay and Ryan both went to hug Gabriella. As she did, Sharpay whispered in her ear "Don't bother with him. You deserve so much better than that. Don't settle for someone who will treat you badly."

During dinner that night, Gabriella almost forgot why she had been upset at all. She laughed more than she had in a long time with Noah beside her. She'd been right; he was different to most guys. She was taken in by his sweet personality and his off beat sense of humor and conversation had flowed between them easily as they almost ignored their other friends and were completely oblivious to the pointed looks shared between them.

After dinner she managed to bribe Noah into studying by using brownies while the others watched a movie. But the entire time she could have sworn he was looking at her. Not all the time, but sneaking in glances as she explained bonding in organic chemistry.

Finally, after about twenty minutes of ignoring his stares, she sat up and turned to him.

"Why do you keep doing that?" she tried to keep her tone light and not accusatory.

"Doing what?" He avoided her eyes. "I am completely and totally focused on chemistry and nothing else."

She had to laugh at his pretend innocence. "You keep looking at me… It's a little weird Noah."

He blushed slightly. "Sorry. It's just…you look really pretty and it's really cute when you're concentrating."

Gabriella blushed at his words. "Oh. Um, thanks Noah." She smiled at him.

"Not a problem. Hey I don't suppose you wanna have dinner or you know, just do something? I mean, just us two, not with all of those guys around." He smiled the same shy and self conscious smile that she had seen when their teacher was asking her to tutor him and she couldn't help smiling back.

"I would love to. But you really need to focus on this or Mrs. Capri will kill us both," she laughed at the end.

As he bent his head over the books and papers spread over the table Gabriella couldn't help smiling. He was really cute, funny and sweet and he had just asked her out! It would be perfect in helping her get over Troy, not that she didn't mind going out with him.

* * *

A couple miles away from the McKessie house, Troy Bolton was lying on his back on the floor of his bedroom, tossing a basketball into the air and catching it. He hadn't meant to tell her that. He knew he would come off as an asshole to the rest of their friends but he knew he needed to talk to her. He needed to explain himself to her.

He glanced at the alarm clock beside his bed and realized it was 9:30 at night. He figured she would be alone now, that he could call her and talk to her without a huge drama with everyone else. He reached for his cell and keyed in her number before taking a deep breath and pushing talk.

The phone rang. And rang. And rang. Was she ignoring it because it was him?

"_Hey this is Gabi, leave a message after the beep and have a great day!"_

He smiled at the upbeat message and the wish at the end.

"Uh…hey Gabs. Please call me back, I need to explain some stuff. I'm so sorry."

Troy sighed. He needed to talk to someone who would get everything he said. But he couldn't talk to Kayla, she couldn't know what was happening.

He pushed redial on his cell phone.

"Hey Gabs, please just call me back. I really need to talk to you. To someone who knows me. I'm so sorry. I have pretty much ruined everything and I really am sorry. With all my heart. Please call me."

_What if she's with him?_

He had seen the way she had looked at Noah in the hallway. And the way she and Sharpay had giggled as they walked away from him. He shouldn't get mad at anyone about that. He and Gabriella were long over, she had every right to look at boys or gossip with her friends about them. He had no right to object to her living her life.

* * *

It was past 10 at night by the time Noah left Gabriella. By this time, the Evans' had gone and Taylor had said a very long and public goodbye in the hallway to Chad before going up to bed.

"You should go or else my surrogate mom will come to kick you out." Gabriella tried to keep her face serious, but couldn't help giggling at the idea of single-mom Mrs. McKessie trying to throw Noah out of her house.

"I should go or my parents will ground me and I won't be able to take you on a date on Friday night." Noah looked smug as he smiled down at her.

"Well I don't think I could handle that so you'd better let me go and get my beauty sleep," she grimaced. "If you keep me up much longer I'll look like crap tomorrow at school."

"Trust me, you do NOT need any beauty sleep. In fact, maybe you should do the rest of the girls at East High a favor and not sleep at all."

"I feel like there's a compliment in there somewhere but I don't know where," she giggled at the serious expression on his normally happy face, then at his gasp of horror and shocked expression.

"What I trying to say, and failing miserably it seems, is that you are beautiful. You don't need anything else." He kissed her softly on the cheek then held his cheek next to hers. "Goodnight Bella. Sweet dreams."

Gabriella shut the door on him, locked it, and then ran squealing up the stairs. She knocked once on Taylor's door before running in and jumping on her friend in her bed.

"He's so cute! And he called me beautiful! Tay, he asked me on a date! He likes me, he really likes me!" The Latina girl bounced on the bed before flopping down beside Taylor.

"Okay yes, he likes you. And as much as I love you, if you don't get out of my room and let me sleep, I'm going to hit you." Taylor opened one eye and said.

Gabriella giggled slightly before whispering goodnight to her friend and getting off the bed.

"And turn your phone off of put it on silent. It's been going off for ages. Night."

As Gabriella walked next door to her room she wondered who would have been calling her, since anyone who would, had been at the house for dinner. She picked it up and looked at the display.

_15 missed calls_

_7 new voicemail messages_

_8 new text messages_

_It has to be mom_ she thought, going into her inbox. There was one text message from her mother, the rest from Troy Bolton, each asking her to call him. All of the missed calls were from him, as were the voicemails.

Shortly after listening to the voice messages, her phone started vibrating in her hand. Troy's name came up on the screen. She held it, wondering what to do. Just before it went to voicemail, she pushed talk.

"Hello?"

"_Gabs, what have you been doing? I've been calling you all night"_

Don't call me Gabs. I've been hanging out with my _friends_ Troy. Or are you not gonna let me do that either?" She couldn't help using an icy tone.

"I'm sorry." He sounded like he really meant it. "I need to explain everything to you."

"Go for it."

* * *

**I'm really sorry this took so long, I got massive writers block halfway through the chapter. But good thing is I got a few ideas for future chapters.**

**Please review and I will give you a cookie (but not really)**

**Love and God bless xxx**


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm so sorry this took so long, I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Troy sighed down the phone. "I treated you like crap. And you have no idea how much I regret that. I was in love with you for so long after you left…until Kayla. I've never been able to tell her what made me like that because…to be honest I was too embarrassed for her to know how I acted to you."

"Troy-" Gabriella started but was cut off.

"Gabs, please. I need to say this. And now that you're back and things with Kayla are serious, it's just easier for me to keep those parts of my life separate, because, well…Gabs… I'm scared I'm going to fall for you again and I can't let that happen. Last time screwed both of us over and I can't put either of us through that again."

She paused for a moment before saying softly, "Troy, I understand where you're coming from. But you can't lie to her about this. You need to tell her the truth about your past. She'll still love you, and you'll still love her. And I don't think anything's going to happen between us again Troy. There's too much history, it's too messy."

"I guess. I do care about you though. And I am sorry, from the bottom of my heart I swear Gabriella. I can't believe I was such an asshole when things were so tough for you."

"You're forgiven Troy. And I think we should be friends. I mean, cause of Kayla at least."

"And Noah," Gabriella could hear the smile in his voice and smiled to herself.

"You saw that today huh? That was _definitely_ unexpected."

Troy laughed the same laugh she used to love and she smiled again, knowing that things were going to be okay between them.

* * *

The next morning Troy and Gabriella shocked all their friends in a pre arranged walk together into the school halls. As they neared their friends the two grinned to each other at their open mouthed stares.

"What the hell?" Sharpay was the first to recover.

"What? What's wrong?" Kayla, who was standing next to Troy, asked as he put his arm around her.

"Nothing baby they're just being stupid. We should go to class."

With that the two walked away from the rest of the group, leaving Gabriella undefended.

"I repeat: what the hell?" Sharpay exclaimed. "So what, you guys are friends now?"

"Sweetie, you can't just be friends with Troy," Taylor said softly.

"I am." Gabriella's voice was strong.

"Gabs, if you can put it all behind you, more power to ya girl," Kelsi gave her a hug.

"Thanks Kels." She smiled. "Well, what about the rest of you? It sure makes your lives easier when you're not skirting around both of us."

Chad and Zeke looked at each other in disbelief.

"She has a point you guys. And besides, they're both our friends, we can and we should be happy about this, for them." All standing there turned to Jason, Gabriella with a grateful smile, Kelsi with a look of admiration and the rest in shock. "What, I can be deep!"

The group all laughed and headed to their homeroom class. While they were walking, Gabriella pulled out her cell phone and sent a message to Troy.

* * *

Troy had taken his seat at the back of the room near Kayla and was laughing at a story she was telling him when he felt his phone buzz.

_*New Message*_

_From: Gabriella_

_Thanks a lot, you left me to deal with all of them :P But you missed out on Jase's wisdom!_

With one ear and eye on his girlfriend, he pushed reply.

_Wisdom? Seriously? This is the boy who once asked a teacher if oil and water would mix if he stirred it for an hour._

A few minutes later it buzzed again.

_*New Message*_

_From: Gabriella_

_Are you SERIOUS? Sometimes I wonder how often he was dropped on his head… But I guess he was overdue and you missed out. SHAME!! :P_

He smiled and flipped his phone closed, paying full attention to Kayla as she was laughing and gesturing something with her hands. Everything was going to be fine between them.

* * *

Shortly after the lunch bell rang, Gabriella felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. On her way to the cafeteria, she read the message from Noah.

_*New Message*  
__  
From: Noah_

_Hey G-Unit, after u get ur lunch wanna come somewhere with me? Something I wanna show u_

She quickly typed her reply in.

_Love to ____ Where exactly do you plan on taking me Mr. Matthews?_

A few minutes later it vibrated again.

_*New Message*_

_From: Noah_

_U'll see Bella. Just don't get dessert k? ;)_

She ordered and paid for her cheeseburger with salad and fries and looked for Noah. He was nowhere in sight. Sighing, she started walking toward the table with all of her friends on it, where Sharpay and Taylor were waving. Where Troy was.

"What's this? Ms Montez forgetting all about her lunch date with me? I feel quite offended!" Noah was by her side, grinning at her, green eyes sparkling.

"Well Mr. Matthews, I am a busy person, I can't afford to be kept waiting," she sighed jokingly.

"I shall make a note of it. And I am sorry I was organizing. And to you all," he announced to those waiting at the table. "I shall be whisking Gabriella away from you all for the lunch hour and free period. Any complaints will be answered by email."

He chuckled slightly as Sharpay threw one of Chad's fries at his head.

"I'll see you guys later on okay?" Gabriella grinned.

Taylor and Sharpay looked at each other briefly before turning to her.

"Perfectly fine," Taylor said with a huge smile on her face, while the look on Sharpay's said _"Tell us EVERYTHING!!"_

Laughing, Gabriella turned and linked her arm through Noah's outstretched one and let him lead her out of the cafeteria and down the hallway.

"So where exactly are you taking me?"

"I'm going to knock you unconscious then go through your pockets for loose change in the janitors closet," he deadpanned. "Seriously Bella, you don't do surprises do you?"

"Not really," she admitted. "I like to know what's going on."

"Don't you like just going with the flow sometimes? You know, spontaneity and all that?" Noah asked her.

"I guess not. My dad was always the fun guy you know? Once he just drove us for ten hours straight to Colorado just cause he wanted to see some snow." She smiled at the memory. "When he died, I guess I just stopped wanting to do that kind of thing cause it reminded me too much of him."

"Isn't it better to remember him by doing things like that?" he asked her quietly.

"I suppose so." Gabriella suddenly felt uncomfortable with the tension. "You should be a therapist you know that?"

He seemed to know why she had changed the subject. "I am. That'll be $50 please."

She laughed, surprised by how easily laughing came with him. "Thanks Noah."

"For what? You haven't even seen your surprise yet."

He looked at her and grinned that mischievous, little boy grin. "We're here!"

Gabriella looked around her. They were standing in one of the school hallways that looked exactly the same as every other.

"Noah, we're outside my biology classroom."

"Yeah, you're being dissected, surprise!" he rolled his eyes. "Go in."

She did as he told her to and saw another door leading off the classroom that she had always presumed was a store cupboard. But this was where Noah was leading her.

"Noah, what is going on?" she asked him slowly.

"Just relax and enjoy the surprise."

Noah opened the door, which Gabriella was surprised to see, led to a staircase. She turned back to him and at his nod, started climbing them. A couple of minutes later they were at another door on the end of a landing.

"Open it." His voice was soft so she opened the door slowly.

It led to the roof top, which was covered in hundreds of different colored flowers and had a picnic basket on a blanket placed under a covering at one end.

"This is amazing."

"I though you'd like it. This isn't the only way up here but I've been working on that dissecting line for a while now," Noah said with mock seriousness.

"Really? It seemed so improvised," she replied, using the same tone.

"That's all part of the art."

She laughed. "Noah, you are so weird."

"And cool."

"Yes and cool. And modest," she laughed again.

"Don't forget handsome." He held his head up.

"How could I forget handsome?" she smiled at him.

"I have no idea," he said seriously. "Now would you like to start eating your lunch before my dessert gets cold? I have to tell you though, my mom made most of this and now she wants to meet you." He cringed slightly. "My family is so embarrassing."

"I'm pretty good with dealing with crazy families," Gabriella laughed. "Tell me about yours."

He took a deep breath. "It's a bit of a long story."

"You booked me for two hours remember?"

"How could I forget?" He smiled over at her. "Well my mom and dad were seniors in high school when she got pregnant and they had their typical shotgun wedding. It was all good for a couple years until she got pregnant again with my little sister, then they started yelling all the time and he started drinking a lot. It wasn't really bad until she was five and he told her that she was a mistake and she ruined everything." He Noah as Gabriella gasped. "She was devastated, mom was angry and from then on I hated him. That's when my dad started drinking really heavily and then he started getting angry at the rest of us. My mom left him when I was nine and then a few years ago she remarried to this slightly older guy and he's great. He's got two daughters and a son of his own and we actually get on really well."

Noah sighed and smiled sadly. "Okay so that's my sob story, now it's your turn."

Gabriella eyed him carefully. He was changing the subject, yes, but he seemed at peace with his past.

"Okay well my dad died just over three years ago in a car accident but before that we were really close. I was such a daddy's girl." She smiled at him. "He taught me how to dance, how to ride a bike, how to make my mom smile. He was really romantic with her too. They had weekends away all the time. It was just crazy when he died. I left New Mexico with my mom, we went to New York, she met Dave, they became really good friends, started dating, got married and now I have two little half-sisters, Hunter and Cassidy and they are just the cutest things ever I swear. Now we're back here. End story."

Noah watched her suspiciously for a moment, as if he suspected she'd left something out of the story, but shrugged and continued with the conversation.

The rest of the two hours flew by with both Gabriella and Noah laughing lots. Gabriella was constantly aware of how tension free the atmosphere between them was, but that was how he was, she realized. He joked, laughed and teased just enough to make people comfortable.

When the bell rang, both were sorry to leave the rooftop, but neither wanted to skip their next class. So they headed their separate ways, Gabriella to English and Noah to Spanish.

* * *

As Gabriella walked in the door of her English room, she was Troy, Taylor and Chad all in deep discussion at the back of the room. She noticed they all stopped and looked up when she entered.

"What?" She looked at all three of them in turn and narrowed her eyes.

"Nothing." Chad turned away and went to sit at his desk.

"Ms Walker's here, go to your own desk Troy," Taylor directed as the teacher entered the room.

Gabriella took her own seat next to Taylor, and as soon as the teacher had turned her back to write on the board, scribbled a note onto a slip of paper and shoved it over their shared desk.

**What the hell was that about? Were you guys talking about me??**

_Paranoid much?_

**Taylor Annabelle McKessie, don't you DARE go all reverse psychology on me. Tell me what was going on just then.**

_Three friends were talking. Now if you don't mind, I would like to learn something._

Taylor pushed the paper back and stared firmly at their English teacher as she outlined the course on Shakespeare the class would be doing that semester, ignoring Gabriella as she tried to get her attention.

* * *

After school, Taylor and Gabriella were about to start walking home when Gabriella's cell phone rang. It was her mom, telling her that on Friday afternoon she, Dave and Gabriella's two sisters would be arriving in New Mexico and Gabriella would be moving into their house in the weekend.

As she hung up on her mother, Gabriella turned to Taylor with a glint in her eye. "Are you ever going to tell me what it was about?"

"Nope. Now hurry up, I have heaps of homework and I wanna get it done before tonight. Chad's coming over." Taylor smiled to herself, not noticing Gabriella gag.

"Ew."

Turning to glare at her friend, Taylor smacked Gabriella on the arm. "Nothing like that, we're going to watch a DVD. You could ask Noah if he wants to join us…" she trailed off, winking at her friend.

"Tay, you have no idea how inappropriate that sounded!" Gabriella laughed.

"Ew you're right! Gross! Forget I said anything!"

The girls were still laughing and joking as they entered Taylor's house, greeting her mother and heading up the stairs.

"Seriously though, how was lunch?"

Gabriella smiled and ducked her head so Taylor wouldn't see her blushing. "Maybe call Shar and ask if she can come around and I can tell you guys together. You know she'll go totally postal if she hears the news after someone else."

"Oh so there's news huh?" Taylor smiled. "Fine, you call Sharpie and I'll go make some popcorn, I feel like this might take a while."

Sharpay was called, and told the other girls she would be around in 20 minutes. When she arrived, she brought chocolate, ice cream, a bag of clothes and various packets of potato chips.

"Are you planning on moving in tonight?" Taylor looked at the load in Sharpay's eyes.

"Well why not? We can have a girl's night. We don't need to be up too late and I can drive us to school tomorrow," Sharpay explained.

The three girls went to ask Taylor's mom, who said it was okay with her as long as the girls were asleep by 11 and dealt with their own tiredness the next day. So as they lay spread on Taylor's bedroom floor doing homework, Gabriella recounted all that had happened at lunch.

"Awww that is so cute!" Sharpay was gushing throughout the entire story, even Taylor had a big smile on her face.

"Gab, how come you didn't tell him? You know, about Troy?" Taylor asked and the mood suddenly changed.

"I didn't want to scare him off." Gabriella answered simply, sending off _I don't want to talk about it _vibes.

Sharpay caught it and, just as Taylor was opening her mouth, butted in with, "he won't know scary till he's seen you in the morning."

Gabriella tried to look offended, but ruined it by laughing.

"What about you when you're shopping? Are you sure Zeke isn't scared of that?" she responded.

"Oh we know he is," Taylor threw in. "He's just too whipped to say anything about it."

"He is NOT whipped!" Sharpay defended herself before admitting, "Okay well maybe a little bit, but are you telling me that's a bad thing? Tay, we all know you have Chad around you're little finger as you crack the whip." She mimed cracking a whip herself and the other girls cracked up again.

"Oh he's not that whipped. Really. We have an understanding relationship, full of compromise and love." The triumphant look on her face sent the girls into peals of laughter which only stopped when Taylor's computer made a ding noise to alert her to a new IM.

**Don'tTouchDaFro says:** Hey babe, whaddya wanna watch tonight?

The girls climbed to their feet and Sharpay, who was first to the computer, collapsed in the chair.

**TaylorBaby! says:** I don't know if watching DVDs is all I wanna do now ; )

**Don'tTouchDaFro says: **Huh? What?

**TaylorBaby! says:** Ignore that… Well Shar and Gabi are here. They're staying the night now so if you still wanna come around you'll still be welcome, you just have to put up with them.

"What do you mean _'put up with us'_?!" Sharpay was offended.

"Oh please, you know it's true," Taylor replied, not looking away from the screen.

**Don'tTouchDaFro says:** Yeah sure…but can there be other guys there too? I don't really wanna be drowning in a sea of estrogen

**TaylorBaby! says:** You know what estrogen is?

**Don'tTouchDaFro says:** I have sisters….and a mother…and I take health…

**TaylorBaby! says:** Sure, who else is online? Invite them in

Taylor turned away from the computer, "You guys wanna grab your laptops? It'll be easier than sharing one screen and one keyboard."

The other two agreed and were soon online.

**--- xXGigiXx has been added to the conversation ---**

**--- Shar4Zeke has been added to the conversation ---**

**--- BakerBball has been added to the conversation ---**

**TaylorBaby! says:** Hey guys, what about Troy & Kayla, Ryan & Kels and NOAH?

**xXGigiXx says: **Shut up McKessie

**--- Hoopstar has been added to the conversation ---**

**--- NOwAHy! has been added to the conversation ---**

**--- Ladycat has been added to the conversation ---**

**--- HatBoy has been added to the conversation ---**

**Shar4Zeke says: **Okay this is too confusing…Too many people!!

**Ladycat says:** Definitely… who's idea was this?

**--- Playmaker has been added to the conversation ---**

**Hatboy says: **Hey Kels. Welcome to chaos

**TaylorBaby! says:**It was my idea and it doesn't have to be chaos! If we type one at a time and be organized it'll be okay

**Ladycat says: **Tay, honey, hate to burst your bubble…but have these guys EVER been organized?

**Hoopstar says:** I resent that

**Don'tTouchDaFro says: **Seconded

**xXGigiXx says: **Chad… When did you get smarter? First estrogen, then the term 'seconded'…

**Don'tTouchDaFro says: **Oh ha ha ha

**xXGigiXx says: **….No seriously… When?

**Don'tTouchDaFro says: **You suck Montez

**xXGigiXx says:** Your face sucks

**Hatboy says: **See? I present…chaos

**TaylorBaby! says:** Noah you're awfully quiet…

**NOwAHy! says: **eating

**Hoopstar says: **Fair enough man

**NOwAHy! says:** What was the point in this? Other than my company of course :P

**TaylorBaby! says:** Yeah… *cough* Anyway… Movie night tonight, my house. Bring snacks and a DVD you wanna watch and we'll vote on what to watch

**NOwAHy! says:** I am hurt by that… But I'm still in

**Ladycat says: **Me too

**Hoopstar says: **Ditto

**Hatboy says: **Kels? You wanna come?

**Playmaker says:** I don't know I have a lot of homework…

**Hoopstar says:** We all do. But we have to have fun too. Come on Kelsi

**Playmaker says:** I'll have to ask my dad but it should be all good. Time?

**--- xXGigiXx has changed her name to G-Unit ---**

A giggle was heard from one corner of Taylor's bedroom.

**Shar4Zeke says:** I have reason to believe Noah and Gabs are having private chat

**G-Unit says:**How do you know???

**Shar4Zeke says: **I read over your shoulder

**BakerBball says: **Back on topic…. Time?

**G-Unit says: **Thank you Zeke

**BakerBball says: **Welcome. Plus, what about Jason and Martha?

**TaylorBaby! says: **7:30pm. And Martha wasn't feeling well today so Jay's looking after her

**Ladycat says:** Aww too cute!!

**Don'tTouchDaFro says: ***vomit*

**Shar4Zeke says:** Now HE is whipped…

**TaylorBaby! says:** Yes and we all know. Now the invitation is out there guys, see you all later hopefully. Over and out.

**--- TaylorBaby! has left the conversation ---**

**Don'tTouchDaFro says:** See you guys later

**--- Don'tTouchDaFro has left the conversation ---**

**Hatboy says:** I have to go do some h/w before tonight… Joy… See you guys in a couple hours

**Playmaker says: **Same here… Plus I have to convince Dad to let me come tonight…

**Ladycat says:** If you need help call me. I'm good with parents lol

**Playmaker says: **Might take you up on that… We'll see how it goes. See you guys later

**HatBoy says: **Bye guys

**--- Playmaker has left the conversation ---**

**--- Hatboy has left the conversation ---**

**Ladycat says: **Wow everyone's disappearing in pairs… Anyone else noticed NOwAHy! and G-Unit are remarkably silent?

**Shar4Zeke says: **Not if you're in the same room as one of them… I swear… The giggles….

**BakerBball says:** And I'm out… See y'all later

**--- BakerBball has left the conversation ---**

**Shar4Zeke says: **I'm going to do some homework… Then I'm disconnecting Gabi's wireless. Oh my... she's bringing out the webcam. This will not be pretty

**Ladycat says: **Best of luck. See you later.

**--- Ladycat has left the conversation ---**

**Hoopstar says: **Are there any guys in here who aren't flirting with someone over webcam?

**Shar4Zeke says: **I don't think so…

**--- Hoopstar has left the conversation ---**

**--- Shar4Zeke has left the conversation ---**

**G-Unit says: **Where'd everyone go?

* * *

**I'm so sorry this took like forever to come, and sorry it isn't that great but the length should make up for this chapter and the last. I'm not sure how long it'll be till I'm able to write the next chapter but I'm facing a decision: SOMEONE (girlpower8900) suggested Noah and Kayla are really good, semi romantic interest friends and I can't decide on really, really good friends which could lead into interest or close step-siblings, which coulld force Troy and Gabriella on double dates so I've hopefully been pretty vague on that. Comment and let me know.**

**Hope you enjoyed hearing Noah's past, and sorry there was like 4 Microsoft Word pages of IM conversations (which are not easy to write and try to involve everyone).**

**Please review!!**

**Love and God bless**

**PS (to avoid confusion):**

**NOwAHy! = Noah (No way! + Name)**

**xXGigiXx/G-Unit = Gabriella**

**Hoopstar = Troy**

**Ladycat= Kayla**

**Hatboy = Ryan**

**Playmaker = Kelsi**

**Shar4Zeke = Sharpay**

**BakerBball = Zeke**

**Don'tTouchDaFro = Chad**

**TaylorBaby! = Taylor**


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